CBN pumps fresh $170m into FX market as reserves hit 2017 high

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday pumped in fresh $170 million into the foreign exchange market, as foreign reserves hit 2017 high.

The bank offered the sum of $100,000,000 as wholesale interventions, while it gave another $70,000,000 to meet requests for business and personal travel allowances.

Isaac Okorafor, CBN’s acting director, corporate communications, said the bank remained resolute in ensuring that enough forex is supplied to genuine customers of Deposit Money Banks, and to increase liquidity in the market.

Okorafor said the uniqueness of the wholesale forwards was that banks were allowed to use their winnings from auctions to fund mature obligations, to meet letters of credit remittances, extinguish bills for collection and other forex demands.

The nation’s foreign reserves hit 2017 high of $30 billion on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the CBN injected another sum of $100m into the interbank foreign exchange market in its resolve to ease the challenge of access to foreign exchange by genuine customers.

Thursday’s injection makes the amount so far offered in the interbank forex market within the past few weeks to over $1.2 billion, for both wholesale and retail interventions.