CBN-Office-AbujaThe retail segment of the interbank forex market received a huge boost today, Friday, as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) pumped another $388.66 million and sold to authorized dealers in that sector of the market.
The figures were the results of the bids submitted by dealers since Tuesday, May 2.
Confirming the numbers, the Acting Director of the Corporate Communications Department at the CBN, Isaac Okorafor, said that the sum of $87.885 was for spot sales, while $300.8 million was sold as forwards.
Okorafor explained that the forwards were sold into three tenors of 30, 45 and 60 days respectively. According to him, the Bank sold $100.95 as 30-day forwards; $110.48 million as 45-day forwards and $99.37 as 60-day forwards.
He also confirmed that the apex bank had continued with its intervention in the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the market to meet the needs of low-end users, adding that it is determined to ensure that it supplies enough forex to genuine customers and in the process sustain liquidity in the market.
The apex bank’s spokesman expressed the hope that the CBN will inch even much closer to its objective of convergence of the rates in the interbank and BDC segments.
It will be recalled that the CBN in the course of the week intervened in the wholesale and invisibles segments of the market with amounts valued at over $346 million to ease access to foreign exchange by different categories of customers. [myad]
