Money Market
Nigeria recorded over $1.5bn FX inflow in March, says CBN
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the economy recorded
over $1.5 billion in foreign exchange (FX) inflow in March, indicating its
monetary policy initiatives are effective.
Hakama Ali, the bank’s acting director, corporate
communications department, made this known in a statement on March 29.
She said data available to the bank shows the inflows result
from a concerted effort by the CBN to stabilise the foreign exchange market.
Ali said the naira has also continued to gain value in the
autonomous foreign exchange market, as it traded at N1,309/$1 on Thursday,
against N1,611/$1 in the second week of March 2024.
Meanwhile, the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the CBN,
on March 26, raised the monetary policy rate (MPR), which benchmarks interest
rates, from 22.75 percent to 24.75 percent in a bid to rein inflation.
The committee also retained the cash reserve ratio (CRR) at
45 percent and the liquidity rate at 30 percent.
Speaking on the rationale behind the increase, Cardoso said
the major objective of the CBN is to manage inflation, but said the bank is not
“unmindful of the impact that the interest rate increases are having”.
Cardoso said with the interest rate increases, the foreign
exchange market “becomes a lot more lively” — a situation the CBN governor said
is reducing the exchange rate and cost.