From Uche Usim, Abuja
The Naira continued to gain traction following the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) implementation of its foreign exchange policy last month.
So far, the apex bank has injected well over $1 billion into the foreign exchange market (forex) with the latest being $150 million ploughed into the market last Wednesday. The naira rebounded positively, closing at N444 to a US dollar.
Spokesman of CBN, Isaac Okorafor, said at the weekend that the US dollars is set to crash further in the coming weeks as the apex bank plans to inject more forex into the market to meet the requests of genuine customers. “The CBN has so far kept to its earlier assurance to continue to supply enough forex to guarantee liquidity in the forex market. The CBN is committed to ensuring that the authorised dealers get sufficient supply to meet the demands of authentic customers of banks.
“The CBN had since February offered over $1 billion to the interbank market”, he explained.
Okorafor expressed optimism that stability had been restored to the market, with individuals now being able to easily access forex to address personal and business allowances.
A cursory view of the summary of the CBN intervention in the interbank market over the past two months, shows the highest bid rate was N360/$1, while the lowest was N315/$1.
Okorafor expressed confidence that the pressure being faced by both small and big-end users would soon be overcome.
In the past few weeks, CBN has been making releases to the inter-bank foreign exchange market in its bid to sustain forex supply to different categories of users.
This was as the President of the Association of Bureau De Change of Nigeria, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said Travelex sold the dollars to his members at N381 per dollar.