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The Central Bank of Nigeria’s foreign exchange window for investors and exporters has traded $3.83 billion since it was established by the apex bank on April 24th, traders told Reuters on Monday.

The CBN launched the investors FX window for businesses and foreign investors in order to boost liquidity in the forex market and “ensure timely execution and settlement for eligible transactions.”

Traders told Reuters that confidence appears to be gradually returning to Nigeria’s FX market as $407 million was traded last week compared with $354.8 million in the previous week.

“We have seen continuous improvement in dollar inflow into the market in recent time from offshore investors and this has also reflected in the volume of transactions at the equity market,” one currency trader told Reuters.

Before the CBN launched the investors window in April, the apex bank had been the main supplier of hard currency to the interbank foreign exchange market. But a CBN spokesman last month said the apex bank was, on average, responsible for less than thirty percent of trading in the investor market.

The investors and other CBN windows – such as SME, bureau de change, and invisibles – have allowed the apex bank improve supply of hard currency in the country and close the gap between the official and black market exchange rates.

On Monday, the naira closed at N361.86 per dollar at the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, while the currency was quoted at N306 per dollar on the CBN’s official website. The naira sold at N367 per dollar on the black market in Lagos.