CBN Injects $210m Into Interbank Market
- Nigeria’s external reserves now $40.4bn
Despite unsettling developments in the economic space, Nigeria’s external reserves hit a new high position of $40.4 billion.
The good news is coming against the backdrop of projections by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele at last November’s Annual Bankers’ Dinner of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIBN) held in Lagos.
This is just as the CBN on Monday, January 8, 2018 injected a total of $210 million into the interbank Foreign Exchange Market in the first round of trading for the year.
According to the CBN figures, the external reserves reached the $40.4 billion mark on Friday, January 5, 2018, indicating an increase of about one billion US dollars between December 2017 and January 2018.
CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor, who confirmed the figure, said the improved level of the reserves was due to the apex Bank’s strategy of effective management of forex demand by various sectors of the economy.
Okorafor cited the CBN’s policy restricting access to forex from the Nigerian forex market by importers of some 41 items as the major turning point, adding that the policy had helped to stop the hemorrhaging of the country’s external reserves, which hitherto suffered heavy decline due to huge import bills and other debt obligations.
According to Okorafor, the apex bank policy had ensured a drop in Nigeria’s import bills from over $5 billion monthly in 2015 to about $1.5 billion in 2017.
The spokesman expressed optimism that with the bank’s determination and cooperation of the fiscal authorities, the external reserves will continue to enjoy greater boost as the year 2018 progresses.
On the $210 million injected into interbank window of the foreign exchange market on Monday, the CBN’s image maker explained that it was based on requests in the wholesale, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles segments of the market.
A breakdown of the figure shows that the apex bank offered $100m to the Wholesale sector with the SMEs and invisibles windows receiving $55 million each.
