Determined to ensure adequate liquidity in the nation’s foreign exchange market, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday supplied the Retail Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) segment of the market with the sum of $396.18 million.

According to figures obtained from the apex bank, the released sum was specifically provided to meet forex obligations in the agricultural, airlines, petroleum products and raw materials and machinery sectors.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor stated that sustained interventions by the CBN in both the retail and wholesale sectors of the forex market were targeted at ensuring liquidity in the market and encouraging production and trade, particularly now that the focus was on the promotion of local content.

He explained further that with the country’s reserves close to $50 billion mark, the apex bank would remain more committed to sustaining the gains recorded through the various policy options it took in the course of stemming the depletion of the external reserves and steering country out of recession.

According to him, apart from ensuring liquidity in the inter-bank sector of the market, the bank is also determined to support sundry efforts of the government aimed at diversifying the economy and positioning it on the track of sustainable growth.

Even with the Naira exchanging at N362/$1 at the close of business on Friday, Okorafor insisted that the market would remain stable and that the bank would ensure that the country’s external reserves is increasing in order to safeguard the exchange rate value of the nation’s currency.

A its last SMIS segment intervention on March 23, the bank supplied the sum of $339.89 million to ensure adequate liquidity.

Similarly, last Wednesday it also intervened in the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market to the tune of $210,000,000, comprising of $100million for the wholesale segment and $55 million for both the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles segment.