CBN Injects $289.76 Million, CNY 38.70 Million Into Retail SMIS

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has injected the sum of $289.76 million into the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) and CNY38.70 million in the spot and short-tenored forwards segment of the inter-bank foreign market.

The apex bank’s Corporate Communications Department Director, Isaac Okorafor, who confirmed the figures, said that the dollar-denominated interventions were for transactions in the agricultural and raw materials sectors.

According to him, on the spot and short-tenored sales in Chinese Yuan,are similarly for payment of Renminbi denominated Letters of Credit for agriculture and raw materials based on bids received from authorized dealers.

He reiterated the bank’s support to the inter-bank foreign exchange market, adding that the bank’s management is pleased with the level of stability at both the Bureau-de-Change (BDC) and the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) window of the foreign exchange market.

He that the CBN management is also satisfied with the current implementation of the Bilateral Currency Swap Agreement (BCSA) with the Peoples Bank of China (PBoC), coupled with a recent inflow of about US$2.8 billion Euro bond.

Okorafor expressed confidence that the foreign exchange market in Nigeria will continue to enjoy stability in the coming months and beyond, given the marginal increase in the country’s external reserves.

It will be recalled that the CBN last Tuesday, intervened in the wholesale, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles windows of the inter-bank foreign exchange market to the tune of the sum of $210 million.

Meanwhile, $1 exchanged for N361 at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market, while CNY1 exchanged for N53.