The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has spent $15.9 billion in nine months on its weekly foreign exchange (forex) intervention, the Managing Director, Afrinvest Securities, Ayodeji Ebo, said yesterday.
Ebo, who stated this Thursday in Lagos at the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) discourse on Economic Outlook , said the figure was an improvement on the $9.6 billion spent during same period in 2016. He noted the Investors’ & Exporters’ Forex Window recorded over $27.8 billion in turnover and brought about transparency and stability in the market.
He said the foreign investors would be happy to see the interest rate remain at 14 per cent, even as the stability in the market helped the foreign investors know that the economy is stable. “Foreign portfolio investments provide liquidity and confidence to the market. And keeping the interest rate at 14 per cent will help keep them coming,” he said.
Speaking on loans to small and medium enterprises, he said delay and outright non-payment of borrowed funds by SMEs is making it difficult for key lenders within the sector, including Bank of Industry (BoI) to grant further credits to operators.