Naira battle against dollars as CBN releases another $180m into forex market

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has offered additional 180
million dollars to meet bids for wholesale auction and requests for invisibles such as medicals, school fees and personal travel allowances valued at 80 million dollars through the inter-bank window.

In a statement, on Monday in Abuja, the CBN’s acting
 Director, Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor, 
said the wholesale requests will be settled on Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

He said that with the development, it is expected that the Naira would further strengthen 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 advised eligible individuals with genuine foreign 
currency needs to freely approach their banks and 
authorised dealers with their request, stressing that the
 CBN has made adequate provisions of foreign currency
 for all such legitimate purposes.

Okorafor further advised legitimate customers to approach the CBN with their complaints should they be unfairly denied access.

The Bank had since February 2017 offered over S1.5 billion
 to the interbank market, with the aim of bringing stability to the foreign exchange market and providing 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 traded at N445 to a dollar.