The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN on Monday, intervened for the third time in the inter-bank retail foreign exchange market, supplying a total of $367,134,329.93 (over $367 million) to meet the requests of customers.
A breakdown of the figures shows that about $144,073,753.07 was for 45 days, while $223,060,576.86 was for 60 days.
The CBN spokesperson, Isaac Okorafor, said the release was in line with the bank’s determination to ease the forex pressures on various sectors of the economy through forward sales under the new flexible regime, to keep the market liquidity.
In continuation of its intervention in the foreign exchange market aimed at strengthening the Naira against other international currencies, the CBN had planned to inject another $350 million to the market last weekend.
In the recent placements, the bank made an initial placement of about $500 million in the market shortly after the review of the forex policy three weeks ago. At the end of trading, the market could only absorb $350 million.
In the follow-up placement of about $270 million, the market could only take about $221million.
The impact of two interventions in the market was immediate as the value of Naira strengthened significantly, from about N515 to the dollar to about $485 to the dollar in the first week.
The value of the Naira was boosted to about N450 to the dollar in the second week.
The bank said it was planning to inject a further $350 million to the market last weekend, to bring the total intervention to about $570 million.
