The Central Bank of Nigeria has boosted the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales with $343.06 million, following the Bank’s intervention in the Foreign Exchange market.
Figures obtained from the apex Bank indicated that the amount released was for requests in the agricultural, airlines, petroleum products and raw materials and machinery sectors.
Spokesman of the CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, who confirmed the figures, noted that the continued interventions of the Bank were in line with the assurances made by the Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to sustain market liquidity in order to boost production and trade, as well as maintain stability in the FOREX market.
Speaking further, Okorafor assured that the CBN remained committed to ensuring that all the sectors continue to enjoy access to the foreign exchange required for the business concerns.
It will be recalled that the Bank injected the sum of $210 million into the wholesale segment of the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market recently.
Meanwhile, the naira exchanged at N362/$1 in the BDC segment of the market on Friday.
Okorafor said the interventions by the CBN in both the retail and wholesale sectors of the forex market were targeted primarily at ensuring liquidity in the market as well as encouraging production and trade, particularly now that the focus was on the promotion of local content.
He further explained that with the country’s reserves nearing $50 billion, the Bank was even more determined to sustain the gains recorded through the various policy options the Bank took in the course of stemming the depletion of the external reserves and steering Nigeria out of recession.
Beyond ensuring liquidity in the inter-bank sector of the market, he said the Bank was committed to supporting efforts aimed at growing the economy and further diversifying it away from oil.
