The latest stoppage of foreign exchange sales to Bureau De Change
operators by the CBN failed to lift the trouble Naira as Nigeria’s
national currency exchanged for 300 against just 1 US dollar in Kano.
The currency was also selling at 290 in Lagos and 292 in the FCT Abuja as at Tuesday evening.
But the reactions are conflicting; financial experts said the naira
would decline further, while private sector operators described the move
as a welcome development.
The ban was announced on Monday, when naira trading at 285 against the dollar at the parallel market from 278 on Friday.
The Acting President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators,
Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, told Punch in a telephone interview that the
currency traded against the greenback at 300, 290 and 292 in Kano, Lagos
and Abuja a day after the CBN announcement.
“There is cut of (dollar) supply to the market. The BDC sub-sector
has been murdered. We are not coping. The naira is going to head
northwards. There is no solution in sight,” Gwadabe lamented.
The Head of Investment Research, Afrinvest West Africa Limited, Mr.
Ayodeji Ebo, said the stoppage of forex sale to the BDCs meant that the
CBN wanted everybody to apply to the banks for dollars.
He stated, “But we feel the pressure now will move from the BDCs to
the parallel market. We will see significant spike in the value of the
naira at the parallel market because the little supply to the BDCs have
also helped to cushion the demand at the parallel market.
“It will further compound or increase the spread between the parallel
market and the interbank market. So, it will also increase
round-tripping and unethical practices within the financial system.”
On the lifting of the ban on cash deposits into domiciliary accounts,
Ebo said, “I am still sceptical about how this will work except they
are also assuring us that if you deposit it, you can consummate business
with it.”
But members of the organised private sector have applauded the CBN
for the stopping the sale of dollars to the BDCs and lifting the ban on
cash deposits into domiciliary accounts.
The President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Dr. Frank
Jacobs, said industrialists had earlier kicked against the funding of
the BDCs by the central bank, adding that with the development, the
forex could be channelled towards funding the real sector in terms of
importation of raw materials.
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