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The Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday injected $210m into the interbank foreign exchange market. The CBN said in a statement on Tuesday that it was extending efforts to boost liquidity and alleviate dollar shortages.
According to the statement, from the released amount, $100m was
earmarked for the wholesale market, $55m for Small and Medium
Enterprises forex window, $55m for customers requiring forex for
business/personal travel allowances, tuition and medical fees, among
others.
The Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr Isaac
Okorafor, said the bank was pleased at the performance of the naira,
noting that the currency had continued to enjoy stability against the
dollar and other major currencies of the world in recent times.
He said the bank would continue to intervene in the interbank forex
market in line with its resolve to ensure liquidity in the market and
maintain stability.
Okorafor reiterated that the steps taken by the CBN in forex
management had resulted in further reduction in the country’s import
bills and addition to its foreign reserves.
He added that on Wednesday, the CBN would sensitise stakeholders in
Abuja and the adjoining states on the Bilateral Currency Swap Agreement
between the CBN and the People’s Bank of China which was signed on
April 27, 2018.
As of Tuesday, August 14, 2018, the naira exchanged for N360/$1 in
the Bureau de Change segment of the market, but it depreciated to
N306.05/$1 at the official rate from N306/$1.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for
Agricultural Lending said it disbursed $373m to farmers in the past year
to help boost production of export crops.
The Managing Director, NIRSAL, Aliyu Abdulhameed, was quoted by
Bloomberg as saying that the credit beneficiaries were mainly
small-holder farmers growing cotton, rice, oil palm, cassava and corn
According to him, since the establishment of NIRSAL in 2012, it has
been working closely with banks to guarantee as much as 75 per cent of
loans to agriculture.
He said at an average yield of four tonnes per hectare, optimised
small-holder farmers’ production would generate a gross output of about
16 million tonnes.
Abdulhameed added that revenue from the exports was expected to reach N1.6tn ($4.4bn) by the end of this year.