The
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will today resume dollar sales to Bureaux De
Change (BDCs) seven months after it stopped the practice.
It
stopped the sales last January because of what it called dollar scarcity and
abuse of operating guidelines.
Speaking
yesterday, Aminu Gwadabe, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of
Nigeria (ABCON) President, said nearly 3,000 BDCs are expected to access dollar
from the CBN today.
He
said the BDCs had on Wednesday, funded their accounts with the CBN in
readiness for the transaction, adding that dollar disbursement will start today
and continue next week.
“Our
members funded their accounts with the CBN on Wednesday and will get
the dollar equivalent today. The funds will be sold at the prevailing
inter-bank rate,” he said.
Gwadabe
said the funds would come at one per cent commission, which has been agreed
with the regulator.
The
CBN directed the BDCs to render returns and comply with anti-money laundering
regulations.
Gwadabe
promised that the BDCs would abide by the directives and continually provide
detailed reports on how previous dollars sourced from the CBN were utilised.
The
ABCON boss said the naira exchange rate against the dollar is expected to crash
as more BDCs have access to the green back. He said the naira exchanged at N385
to the dollar at the parallel market, adding that it is expected to strengthen
in the coming weeks as CBN’s interventions continue to calm the market.
The
CBN is targeting huge dollar supplies from the Diaspora estimated at $21
billion yearly, but it is expected to hit $35 billion by the end of this year
as more Nigerians living abroad remit more dollars home after the adoption of
the flexible foreign exchange policy which removed 16-month peg on the local
currency.
Gwadabe
said although BDCs were happy with the resumption of dollar sales to operators,
they are also requesting that the CBN opens more windows for them to operate.
“We
want more windows to be opened for BDCs instead of restricting it to Diaspora
funds. We are happy we can now access the Diaspora funds, but we want the CBN
to do more. We are confident that today’s sales will continue to calm the
market,” he said.
Last
January, the CBN stopped funding of BDCs. Announcing the policy shift in
Abuja, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele said: “The bank (CBN) would,
henceforth, discontinue its sales of foreign exchange to BDCs. Operators in
this segment of the market would now need to source their foreign exchange from
autonomous sources.
They
must however note that the CBN would deploy more resources to monitoring these
sources to ensure that no operator is in violation of our anti-money laundering
laws”.
Last
month, the CBN, ifted the ban. In a circular to authorised dealers
titled: Sales of
Foreign Currency Proceeds of International Money Transfers to Bureaux De Change
Operators and signed by CBN Acting Director, Trade &
Exchange W.D Gotring, the apex bank said the policy shift would ensure the
stability of the exchange rate and boost participation of all critical
stakeholders in the foreign exchange market.
Gotring
directed all authorised dealers (mainly banks) who are agents to approved
International Money Transfer Operators to sell foreign currency accruing from
inward money remittances to licenced BDCs with immediate effect.
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