In a bid to end recession, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has once again injected additional $170 million in the interbank market on Thursday night.
The apex bank said in a statement on Thursday, March 9, 2017 that while the sum of $100 million was offered as wholesale interventions, the sum of $70 million was released to meet the requests for Business and Personal Travel Allowances.
Isaac Okoroafor, the acting director of the corporate communication department of the CBN, while confirming the release said that the apex bank remained resolute in ensuring that it supplies enough forex to genuine customers of Deposit Money Banks and increase liquidity in the market.
“The uniqueness of the Wholesale Forwards was that banks are allowed to use their winnings from auctions to fund matured obligations to meet Letters of Credit remittances, extinguish bills for collection and other forex demands,” the spokesperson said.
“With this development, importers who had hitherto been using bills for collection will now experience relief instead of having to patronize other more expensive sources.
“Thursday’s injection by the CBN takes the amount so far offered in the interbank forex market within the past few weeks to over $1.2 billion for both wholesale and retail interventions.”
During the first intervention in the foreign exchange market last week, the CBN had offered $500 million for sale to banks, but not all of them provided enough naira backing to pay fully for their respective bid amounts.
