CBN injects $364m into Inter-Bank Forex Market

To sustain liquidity and moderate rate, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday, intervened in the Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market to the tune of $364million.

A breakdown of Tuesday’s intervention indicates that the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) received the largest allocation of $264,192,252.95. The CBN also offered the sum of $100,000,000 to authorised dealers in the wholesale window.

Confirming the figures yesterday, sources at the bank said the CBN also received requests from authorized forex dealers on behalf of their customers, for which results will be released.

According to the sources, the Bank remained committed to achieving a convergence of rates at the inter-bank and Bureau-de-Change segments of the market.

It will be recalled that the Bank last week intervened in the wholesale, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles windows to the tune of $195 million.

Meanwhile, as a way to ameliorate the difficulties encountered by critical stakeholders, the apex bank says payment for port charges to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and other agencies by oil marketing companies can now be accommodated by the Bank using Form ‘A’.

A circular endorsed by the Director, Trade and Exchange Department, Wuritka Dauda Gotring, directed authorized dealers to accept the request for the payments of port charges from oil marketing companies and forward same to the CBN Forex window.