The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Friday injected the sum $303.91 million into the interbank retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS). This is in addition to the sale of CNY46.58m in the spot and short-tenored forwards.
The figures released by CBN on Friday showed that the US dollar-denominated interventions were only for concerns in the agricultural and raw materials sectors.
Mr. Isaac Okorafor, the Director, Corporate Communications at the CBN, said the exercise, which was in tune with the CBN guidelines, was for the payment of Renminbi denominated letters of credit for agriculture as well as raw materials.
While noting that availability of Renminbi was sure to ease pressure on the Nigerian foreign exchange market, Mr Okorafor attributed the relative stability in the foreign exchange market to the intervention of the CBN as well as the sustained increase in crude oil prices in the international market. He further assured that the CBN would remain committed to ensuring that all the sectors continued to enjoy access to the needed foreign exchange by Nigerians.
The bank last Tuesday provided $210 million to cater for requests in the wholesale segment of the forex market.
Meanwhile, $1 exchanged for N361 at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market, while CNY 1 exchanged for N53.35.
