Chinese Currency Will Ease Pressure On The Nigerian FOREX’ -Okoroafor
The Ag. Director, Corporate Communications Department of the Crlentral Bank of Nigeria(CBN), Mr Isaac Okoroafor said that the availability of the Chinese currency will ease the pressure on the Nigerian foreign exchange market.
Mr Okoroafor disclosed this in Abuja during the appex bank’s intervention on Thursday, August 23 and Friday, August 24, 2018.
The CBN injected a total sum of $ 543.22 million and CNY 63million into the intet- bank foreign exchange market.
At the Thursdays trading, the Bank offered the sum of $100,000,000 as wholesale interventions and allocated the sum of $55,000,000 to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) forex window. Also, the invisibles window, which caters for customers requiring forex for Business/Personal Travel Allowances, tuition and medical fees, among others, received $55 million.
Similarly, on Friday, August 24, 2018, the Bank injected the sum of $323.22 million into the interbank retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales and sold a total of CNY 63.21 million in the spot and short-tenored forwards, arising from bids received from authorized dealers
The CBN spokesperson, Isaac Okorafor, who confirmed the figures, said the Bank remained committed to maintaining the countrys external reserves to safeguard the international value of the Naira in line with the Banks mandate. According to him, the Banks management of the forex market had entrenched transparency in the market and continued to strengthen the value of the naira against other major currencies of the world.
On the sale of Chinese Yuan (Renminbi), Mr. Okorafor disclosed that it was in line with the CBN guidelines, which stipulate that it would be for the payment of Renminbi denominated Letters of Credit for agriculture as well as raw materials.
He attributed the relative stability in the foreign exchange market to the intervention of the CBN as well as the sustained increase in crude oil prices in the international market. He further pledged that the Bank would ensure that the requirements of customers in all sectors of the foreign exchange market are guaranteed access to required foreign exchange.
Meanwhile, $1 exchanged for N360 at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market, while CNY 1 exchanged for N53.17.
By Oru Leonard/ABUJA
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