Date from the Central Bank of Nigeria has shown that the apex bank injected $11.24 billion into the economy to stabilise the value of the naira from January 2022 to July.

This was contained in the banking regulator’s monthly economic reports on foreign exchange market developments. In the first five months of the year, CBN used $7.6 billion to stabilise the naira.

It stated, “Total foreign exchange sales to authorised dealers by the Bank were $1.75bn in July, a decrease of 15.4 per cent relative to $2.07bn in June. A breakdown shows that foreign exchange sales at the interbank/invisible window and matured swaps decreased by 22.0 per cent and 59.1 per cent, respectively, to $0.13bn and $0.27bn, below their respective levels in the preceding month.

“In contrast, FX sales at Investors and Exporters, Secondary Market Intervention Sales and Small and Medium Enterprises windows rose by 5.8 per cent, 0.6 per cent and 65.7 per cent, respectively, to $0.44bn, $0.72bn, and $0.19bn, compared to their levels in June.”

In an earlier report, the CBN said it had intervened in the markets with $1.65 billion, $1.39 billion and $1.82 billion in January, February and March, while the interventions were $1.56 billion and $1.18 billion in April and May respectively.

The report read, “Total foreign exchange sales to authorised dealers by the bank were $1.18 billion, a decrease of 24.4 per cent, 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 $0.16bn apiece, below their respective levels in the preceding month.

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