CBN intervenes with $218.41m, CNY 18m into forex market

In continuation of its intervention in the inter-bank foreign exchange market, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday, February 7, 2020, injected the sum of $218.41million into the retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) and CNY 18million in the spot and short-tenored forwards segment of the inter-bank foreign exchange market.

The Bank’s Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor, disclosed that the intervention, like in previous exercises, was for requests in the agricultural and raw materials sectors, adding that the Chinese Yuan, on the other hand, was for Renminbi-denominated Letters of Credit.

Okorafor further expressed satisfaction over the stability of the foreign exchange which, according to him, was largely due to sustained intervention by the Bank. He assured that the CBN Management would remain committed to ensuring that all the sectors of the forex market continue to enjoy access to the needed foreign exchange, stressing that the stability in the foreign exchange market continued to attract investors.

It would be recalled that the Bank on Tuesday, February 4, 2020, offered authorized dealers in the wholesale segment of the market the sum of $100million, while the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the invisibles segments each received the sum of $55 million.

Meanwhile, $1 exchanged for N358 at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market, while CNY1 exchanged at N46 on Friday, February 7, 2020.

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.