… as CBN set to inject more dollars this week
There are strong indications that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will inject more foreign exchange into the market early this week, a move targeted at ensuring liquidity in the interbank foreign exchange market.
This is coming as Godwin Emefiele, governor of CBN, at the weekend, insisted that speculators would lose money.
“I obviously cannot be of help to people or businesses who are into speculative foreign exchange demand. My promise instead to this group, whether foreign or local, is that the CBN will make sure they lose money,” Emefiele said in Lagos, while receiving award for personality of the year 2016 by Vanguard newspaper.
The information about the action of the apex bank, which became rife over the weekend, has reportedly sent jitters to those currency speculators who hitherto took advantage of the scarcity of foreign exchange in the recent past.
Confirming the proposed additional foreign exchange injection into the system to newsmen in Lagos at the weekend, Isaac Okorafor, acting director, corporate communications, CBN, said the bank was determined to sustain the provision of liquidity in the foreign exchange market in order to enhance accessibility and affordability for genuine end users.
Okorafor also cautioned dealers in foreign exchange not to engage in any unwholesome practice that was detrimental to smooth operations in the market, warning that the CBN would impose heavy sanctions on any organisation or official involved in such act.
As of last week, the CBN had intervened in the interbank forex market by offering over $1.2 billion for both wholesale and retail interventions.
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