Nigeria’s currency, naira has again plummeted in the parallel market against the dollar. This follows report from our Bureau De Change source in Lagos that the naira has crashed to N345 as against the N342/$1 rate it was on Tuesday, June 28. It was gathered that the continued depreciation of the naira in the parallel foreign exchange market is due to persistent liquidity issue.
However, this problem may be short-lived as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it will resume dollar sales. This was disclosed by the apex bank in a meeting with the leadership of Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), the umbrella body of BDCs in the country.
Confirming the report, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, ABCON president said: “We just held a meeting with the CBN and they informed us that they would soon resume dollar sales to BDCs. “We also assured them that we would ensure that BDCs abide by the criteria as well as comply with all regulatory requirements to justify the renewed confidence in the sub-sector. “We were given a grace to organise our members, inform them and we agreed to behave well and support the economy. We assured them that we will also make our members to comply and operate during the rules and especially the market is not selling outside what the regulator says we should.”
The CBN however attached some terms after the meeting with BDC operators. According to the apex bank, the BDC operators will commence the selling of foreign exchange at N300 to the dollar. The BDCs also said it had reached an agreement with the apex bank to be participating in the interbank foreign exchange market. In was to this regard, Gwadabe directed its members to “operate within the price band of buying at N280 per dollar and selling at N300 per dollar.” According to Gwadabe, mechanisms are being put in place to ensure compliance by the BDCs at all levels, stating that transactions done by BDCs would be displayed on their online terminals with all the documents attached, such that the information can be accessed by not only the public but also regulators such as the CBN, the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
