The Naira on Thursday remained stable at N364 per dollar
in the parallel market.
There was no significant increase or decrease in the figure
all week days.
The stability was attributed to weak demand for dollar and
increased supply due to dollar sale to bureaux de change by the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN).
CBN had on Monday injected a total sum of $195m into the
inter-bank forex market to meet the requests of customers in the various
segments of the market.
A breakdown of the intervention revealed that the Bank
offered the sum of $100 million to authorized dealers interbank wholesale
window, while it allocated the sum of $50 million to the Small and Medium
Enterprises (SMEs) window.
The invisibles segment was allocated the sum of $45 million
to meet the needs of those who applied for Forex to settle Business/Personal
Travel Allowances, school tuition, and medicals, etc.
Acting Director in charge of Corporate Communications, Isaac
Okorafor, said the Bank would continue to ensure adherence to its forex policy
by insisting on transparency of all stakeholders to guarantee stability in the
market.
CBN made two major interventions in the inter-bank Forex
market, last week, totalling $831.5 million, just as figures released by the
apex bank indicated that it had boosted transactions at the Investors’
& Exporters’ (I&E) segment of the market to the tune of $2.2bn.
Also last week, the CBN, in a bid to tackle inflation,
unveiled plans to mop up a total of N200.322 billion from the Nigerian banking
system through a special Open Market Operation (OMO) at the rate of 16 per cent
per annum.
By Wale Odunsi
