By Adedapo Adesanya
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has sold a total of $876.26 million to end users whose bids were submitted by qualified 26 banks.
This is part of the apex bank’s latest effort to support the Naira, which has faced headwinds in the last couple of weeks.
According to a statement signed by Mrs Omolara Omotunde Duke, the director of the Financial Markets Department on Wednesday, total bids amounted to $1.18 billion, which was received from 32 authorised dealer banks.
However, only bids valued at $876.26 million from 26 banks qualified were settled, while bids valued at $313.69 million from six banks were disqualified.
CBN said the disqualifications were due to four banks submitting bids after the 3:00 pm cutoff time and two banks failing to provide bids in the required template.
Additionally, all bids with Form Q and unverifiable Forms A and M on the Trade Portal were disqualified.
The CBN approved a cut-off rate of N1,495 per Dollar or the Retail Dutch Auction.
The detailed results and qualified bids will be published on the CBN’s website to ensure transparency.
Settlement for the successful bids is scheduled for Thursday, August 8, 2024.
The statement affirmed the CBN’s commitment to boosting FX liquidity and promoting price discovery through this auction process.
The sale follows “growing unmet foreign exchange demand” which has “continued to increase the demand pressure in the foreign exchange market, with adverse impact on the exchange rate of the Naira,” the regulator said in a circular to lenders last week.
The Naira has come under pressure recently but over the last two days, Business Post has reported extended gains with the local currency closing at N1,610/$1.
Aduragbemi Omiyale 
Dipo Olowookere