CBN Pumps Fresh $170m Forex Into the Interbank Market

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The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Thursday night again intervened in the foreign exchange market with the injection of additional $170m in the interbank market.The apex bank said in a statement on Thursday night that while the sum of $100m was offered as wholesale interventions, the sum of $70m was released to meet the requests for Business and Personal Travel Allowances.The latest intervention according to the CBN brings the total amount so far released into the interbank forex market within the last three weeks since it began its intervention to about $1.35bn.The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, 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.He said, “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.“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 $1.2bn for both wholesale and retail interventions.”During the first intervention in the foreign exchange market last week, the CBN had offered $500m for sale to banks, but not all of them provided enough naira backing to pay fully for their respective bid amounts.