By Dipo Olowookere
A total of $462.3 million was released into the foreign exchange market yesterday by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This was part of efforts of the apex bank to boost liquidity in the market so as to continue to make the local currency stable at the forex market.
Since February this year, the central bank has continued to release forex into the market, keeping the Naira as low as N363 per Dollar from over N500 when it started the intervention five months ago.
A breakdown of Friday intervention showed that the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) segment of the market got $267.3 million.
In addition, the wholesale segment was allotted a total of $100 million, while $50 million was appropriated to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) window.
Also, $45 million was sold to the invisibles comprising for Business/Personal Travel Allowances, medical fees, and tuition fees.
Commenting on this, Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications at the CBN, Mr Isaac Okorafor, reaffirmed the apex bank’s determination to sustain its intervention.
He said this step was in line with the CBN commitment to deepen and sustain flexibility in the forex market.
