CBN Pumps Fresh $250million into Forex Market

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, pumped $250m into the various segments of the inter-bank foreign exchange market on Tuesday, September 6.

Figures obtained from the apex bank indicated that the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales segment of the market received the highest intervention with a total of $100m, the Small and Medium Enterprises window received a boost of $80m while the invisibles segment, comprising Business/Personal Travel Allowances, school tuition, medicals, among others was allocated the sum of $70m to meet the demands of customers.

The CBN spokesman, Isaac Okorafor, noted that the second quarter report by the National Bureau of Statistics indicated that Nigeria had gotten out of recession.

While hinging part of the success to the regular intervention of the CBN in the forex market to boost liquidity in the market, Okorafor said the timely execution and settlement for eligible transactions as well as the forex available to the real sector and industrial capacities were factors that boosted the economy.

He recalled that the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had a few months ago predicted that the Nigerian economy would be out of recession at the end of the third quarter.

The CBN reportedly injected $297m into the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales segment, raising the total intervention for the week to the sum of $547m.