CBN sells $876.26m at N1,495 in retail auction

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday sold a total of $876.26 million to end users whose bids were submitted by some 26 banks, in the apex bank’s latest attempt to shore up the ailing naira.

Total bids came to US$1.18 billion which was received from 32 authorised dealer banks.

Of this, bids valued at US$876.26 million from 26 banks qualified, while bids valued at US$313.69 million from six banks were disqualified.

The disqualifications were due to four banks submitting bids after the 3:00 PM cutoff time and two banks failing to provide bids in the required template. Additionally, all bids with Form Q and unverifiable Forms A and M on the Trade Portal were disqualified.

The CBN approved a cut-off rate of N1495/US$ for the Retail Dutch Auction.

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The detailed results and qualified bids will be published on the CBN’s website to ensure transparency.

Settlement for the successful bids is scheduled for Thursday, August 8, 2024.

Omolara Omotunde Duke, director of the Financial Markets Department, affirmed the CBN’s commitment to boosting FX liquidity and promoting price discovery through this auction process.

The sale follows “growing unmet foreign exchange demand” which has “continued to increase the demand pressure in the foreign exchange market, with adverse impact on the exchange rate of the naira,” the Abuja-based Central Bank of Nigeria said in a circular to lenders last week.

The naira has come under pressure through seasonal demand from summer tourism as well as businesses seeking the greenback to bring in goods in the import-dependent nation.

Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.