Ruth Olurounbi
Retail segment receives $323m boost
SMEs, other get $155m
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday and Friday, August injected a total sum of $543.22 million and Chinese Yuan (CNY) 63.21 million into the inter-bank foreign exchange market, according to a written statement from the bank that was made available to the press, Friday.
The central bank said it offered the sum of $100,000,000 as wholesale interventions and allocated the sum of $55,000,000 to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) forex window, at the Thursday’s trading. The invisibles window, which caters for customers requiring forex for Business/Personal Travel Allowances, tuition and medical fees, among others, also received $55 million on the same day.
On Friday, the bank injected $323.22 million into the interbank retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales and sold a total of CNY 63.21 million in the spot and short-tenored forwards, arising from bids received from authorized dealers, the bank’s spokesperson, Isaac Okorafor, confirmed in the statement.
The sale of the Chinese Yuan is classified as payment of Renminbi denominated Letters of Credit for agriculture as well as raw materials, Okorafor says. Nigeria is banking the availability of the Chinese currency to ease pressure on the Nigerian foreign exchange market.
Meanwhile, $1 exchanged for N360 at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market, while CNY 1 exchanged for N53.17.
