By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Last Friday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold $253.4 million, under the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) and CNY16.8 million in the spot and short-tenored forwards segment of the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market.
This was the first intervention the apex bank was carrying out in 2020 and it was to make forex available to currency traders to meet demands of their customers so as to keep the Naira stable at the market.
A statement issued by the Director of Corporate Communications Department at CBN, Mr Isaac Okorafor, stated that the intervention was for requests in the agricultural and raw materials sectors, while the Chinese Yuan was for Renminbi-denominated Letters of Credit.
According to him, the central bank will remain committed to ensuring that all the sectors of the market continue to enjoy access to the needed forex to meet demands of their customers.
He expressed satisfaction over the stability of the foreign exchange especially during the yuletide and New Year celebrations, which according to him, was largely due to sustained intervention by the bank.
The injection helped the local currency to remain stable around N360 per dollar at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the FX market, while the Chinese Yuan stayed around N46.
Dipo Olowookere 
Adedapo Adesanya