The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has pumped $380m within two days into the Foreign Exchange Market.
The apex bank says the effect has further strengthened the nation’s currency.
The first tranche of $280m was released on Tuesday while the second was released on Wednesday, as the bank offered additional $100 million to authorised dealers to meet the 7 to 15-day forwards requests of customers.
Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Isaac Okoroafor, made this known on Wednesday.
Okorafor attributed the inability of the authorised dealers to fully subscribe to the CBN to a surfeit of forex in the system, which may lead to further appreciation of the naira.
According to him, the trend monitored by the Bank indicated that deposit money banks were now able to meet the forex demands of their customers within the time frame stipulated by the CBN.
He said the CBN will on Thursday, continue its sale of 20,000 dollars to Bureaux de Change (BDCs) for onward sale to small-end users.
Okorafor said feedback on the Bank’s forex new window for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country revealed that majority of small importers were heading for a major boost in their activities.
This he said was responsible for the current appreciation of the Naira, stressing that the Naira will continue to gain strength with the relentless efforts of the CBN to to supply the market with forex.
The spokesman also reiterated CBN’s resolve to continue to intervene in the various sectors of the interbank forex market in order to guarantee access to all categories of customers requiring forex for legitimate obligations.
