The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has offered additional $180 million to meet bids for wholesale auction and requests for invisible such as medicals, school fees and personal travel allowances valued at $80 million through the inter-bank window.
In a statement issued today in Abuja, the CBN’s acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okoroafor, said the wholesale requests would be settled tomorrow, March 21, 2017.
He said that with the development, it was expected that the Naira would further be strengthened in the foreign exchange market in the days to come.
He reiterated that the CBN would ensure sustainable forex liquidity and transparency in the process, to enable as many customers as possible get access to the foreign exchange they genuinely demand.
He urged eligible individuals with genuine foreign currency needs to freely approach their banks and authorized dealers with their request, stressing that the CBN has made adequate provisions of foreign currency for such legitimate purposes.
Okoroafor further urged legitimate customers to approach the CBN with their complaints should they be unfairly denied access.
CBN had since February 2017 offered over $1.5 billion to the inter-bank market, to bringing stability to the foreign exchange market and provide easy access of businesses and individuals to foreign currencies.
Meanwhile the Naira has continued to firm up against the Dollar at the parallel market. The Naira today traded at N445 to a dollar.
It has also continued to appreciate against the Pound Sterling, trading at N530 and N465 to one Euro.
At the Bureau De Change (BDC) window, the Naira traded for N399 to a dollar, while a Pound Sterling and Euro changes for N580 and N525, respectively.
The Nigerian currency also closed at N307.5 at the inter-bank market.
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