The naira sustained its gains on the
parallel market thursday, where it closed at N380 to the dollar,
stronger than the N383 to the dollar the previous day.
This is as the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN) yesterday offered $100 million to authorised dealers to meet the
requests of wholesale customers at the forex auction in the interbank
wholesale window.
The CBN spokesman, Isaac Okorafor, who
disclosed this in a statement, stated that no intervention was made in
the retail window in yesterday’s auction.
He however, disclosed that the bank
continued its weekly sale of forex to the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment
to meet the needs of low-end users.
Furthermore, he said the CBN had
observed that quite a good number of dealers were adhering to the forex
guidelines. Nevertheless, he said the CBN would continue to monitor the
activities of authorised dealers to ensure that no outfit or individual
circumvents the laid down forex rules.
While urging all concerned to put the
Nigerian economy first, he reiterated that the CBN was determined to
guarantee the international value of the naira.
In line with assurances by CBN Governor,
Mr. Godwin Emefiele, that the CBN will continue to intervene in the
foreign exchange market, the bank last Wednesday auctioned the sum of
$185.86 million through retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales
(SMIS).
The bank also on Wednesdaysettled the
10th Over-the-Counter (OTC) foreign exchange (FX) Futures Contract
valued at $965.29 million which matured on the FMDQ OTC Securities
Exchange. The FMDQ revealed this on its website.
Okorafor while confirming the last
Wednesday auction sale, disclosed that out of the auctioned amount, only
$3.14million was sold as spots, while the sum of $182.72million was
sold as forwards.
He further explained that the overall
picture of the inter-bank forex market was that of optimism, going by
the level of access now being enjoyed by different categories of
customers in both the wholesale and retail segments of the market.
The CBN governor had given a firm
assurance of the imminent end of the current recession in 2017, at the
end of his meeting with intervention in the forex market.
Emefiele declared that the bank will
continue its relentless hinged the optimism of the CBN on the accretion
to the country’s foreign reserve, which he said currently hovered above
the $31billion mark.
According to him, “Our reserves stand at
above $31 billion and that provides us enough of firepower or
ammunition to be able to defend the currency, and we will do so with all
intensity to ensure that foreign exchange is procured by everybody.”
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