The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it sold foreign exchange (FX) to banks worth $876.26 million at N1,495 per dollar.
The apex bank said the auction aimed to reduce demand pressure in the FX market and promote price discovery, according to a statement on Wednesday, signed by Omolara Omotunde Duke, CBN’s director of financial markets department.
The CBN said the transaction was conducted through a retail Dutch auction system (RDA).
The system, announced on August 4, is a direct sale of FX by the CBN through the banks to the end users.
According to the CBN, a total bid of $1.18 billion was received from 32 dealer banks.
The regulator said while bids valued at $876.26 million from 26 banks qualified, bids from six banks were disqualified, as four banks missed the deadline and two did not provide bids in their submitted templates.
CBN said it will publish the total bids submitted by banks and all qualified bids for payment on its website for public information to ensure the transparency of the process.