CBN Pumps $26.765bn Into FX Market

Jennifer Akamanu

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has pumped $26.765 billion into the interbank segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market since it started its forays into the market in February last year.

The amount of the weekly forex sales increased by $3.508 billion, from N23.257 billion as of August 8, to $26.765 billion as of November 21.

A breakdown of the forex intervention in the past three months showed that while between August 10 and August 28th, the central bank intervened with a total of $1.290 billion; in September it sold $1.250 billion; in October only $210 million was sold and in November, the regulator has so far intervened with $757.16 million.

An analysis of the dollar sales showed that in 2017 alone, the bank intervened with a total of $15.043 billion and between January and November 21 in 2018; it has pumped in $11.5 billion in the market.

The naira exchange rate has remained stable since last year when the central bank commenced the forex sales.

Average exchange rate of the naira to the US dollar on the interbank and BDC segments is N305.79/US$ and N362.25/US$ respectively.

The average exchange rate at the Investors’ & Exporters’ Window has been around N363/US$.

In April 2017, the CBN introduced a new exchange rate window, the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing Mechanism (NAFEX), commonly known as the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I &E) window.