Naira gains as CBN offers $100m in wholesale forwards

The naira on Thursday gained across segments of foreign exchange market following the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through the sale of dollar to the tune of $100 million in wholesale forwards.

Consequently, naira appreciated by N1.35k per dollar at the investors and export window. It closed at N379.04k to the dollar, higher than N380.39k quoted the previous day.

At the interbank spot foreign exchange market, the local currency strengthened marginally by N0.05k to close at N305.85k on Thursday from N305.90k the previous day, data from the FMDQ show. Naira traded stable at the black market, closing at N390 to the dollar.

Buoyed by the impact of its interventions and stability in the foreign exchange market, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday, April 27, 2017 offered the sum of $100 million to authorised dealers to meet the requests of wholesale customers at the forex auction in the interbank wholesale window.

Isaac Okorafor, acting director, corporate communications department at the CBN, disclosed this, adding 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 will 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.

The CBN on Wednesday auctioned the sum of $185.86million at the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS). Okorafor explained that out of the auctioned amount, only $3.14million was sold as spots, while the sum of $182.72 million was sold as forwards.