In its determination to ensure constant supply of foreign exchange liquidity in the market and strengthen the Naira against the Dollar, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday 7th April 2017 auctioned the sum of $418 million at the retail-SMIS at a marginal rate of N310/$.
The airlines, agriculture, petroleum and raw materials/machineries sub sectors benefitted from the auction, according to spokesman of the bank, Mr. Isaac Okorafor.
The latest supply is in addition to the $350 million sold as wholesale auction, BTA/PTA, and school fees during the week.
Mr. Okorafor said the central bank will maintain the supply of the greenback to all segments of the FX market for those seeking the foreign currency under the Wholesale SMIS, Retail SMIS, BDCs and PTA/BTA windows to benefit.
“In the weeks ahead the CBN will sustain its intervention through the sale of foreign exchange to all segments of the market i.e. PTA/BTA, Wholesale SMIS, Retail SMIS and the BDC. “The Bank will sell short tenured forwards of 7-30-day maturity to meet demand of manufacturers and all other foreign exchange users,” he said.
The aim is to reassure foreign exchange users of the banks’ faithfulness to making the dollar available in the market.
“These significant injections of foreign exchange into the market should reassure all foreign exchange users of our determination to continue to meet all legitimate FX demand in the market while striving to achieve exchange rate stability in the market,” Mr. Okorafor added.