We injected $7.6bn into FX market in five months to stabilise naira – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria has said it injected $7.6 billion into the economy in five months through foreign exchange sales to authorised dealers.

The CBN said this in its monthly economic reports for May 2022.

According to the report, the apex bank said it intervened in the FX markets to stabilise the value of the naira with $1.65 billion and $1.39 billion in January and February, respectively.

The CBN added that it pumped $1.82 billion in March, $1.56 billion in April and $1.18 billion in May 2022.

Despite interventions, the naira depreciated by 0.7 per cent to N415 a dollar in the official market within the period.

“Total foreign exchange sales to authorised dealers by the bank were $1.18 billion, a decrease of 24.4 percent below $1.56 billion in April.

“A breakdown shows that foreign exchange sales at the Investors and Exporters and interbank/invisible windows decreased by 37.9 per cent and 0.7 per cent to $0.16 billion percent, below their respective levels in the preceding month.

“Similarly, SMIS and matured swap contracts fell by 7.0 percent and 71.4 percent to $0.64 billion and $0.10 billion, respectively, compared to the amounts in April. However, foreign exchange sales at the Small and Medium Enterprises window rose 8.4 percent to $0.12 billion in the review period,” the report reads.

Last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria stopped the sale of foreign exchange to Bureau De Change operators in the country and channelled weekly allocations of dollar sales to commercial banks to meet legitimate FX demands.

The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, had said the apex bank would stop the sale of foreign exchange to banks by the end of the year.