The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Thursday, announced that it will resume the gradual sale of foreign exchange to licensed Bureau De Change operators.
In a statement
signed by O.S. Nnaji, director of trade and exchange department, the apex bank
said forex sales will commence with effect from September 7.
The bank said the
move is part of efforts to enhance accessibility to foreign exchange
particularly by travellers.
“As part of efforts
to enhance accessibility to foreign exchange particularly to travelers
following the announcement of the limited resumption of international flights
by the Honourable Minister of Aviation commencing with Abuja and Lagos, the
Central Bank of Nigeria hereby wishes to inform the General Public that gradual
sales of foreign exchange to licensed BDC operators will commence with effect
from September 07, 2020,” the circular said.
“Consequently,
purchase of foreign exchange by BDCs shall be on Mondays, and Wednesdays in the
first instance,” it added.
The apex bank noted
that BDCs are to ensure that their accounts with the banks are duly funded with
the equivalent Naira proceeds on Fridays and Tuesdays accordingly.
“Meanwhile,
Authorised Dealers (deposit money banks) shall continue to sell foreign
currencies for travel related invisible transactions to customers and
noncustomers over the counter upon presentation of relevant travel documents
(passport, Air ticket & Visa),” Mr Nnaji said.
“All Authorised
Dealers and Bureau De Change Operators are hereby advised to ensure strict
compliance with the provisions of the extant regulations on the disbursement of
foreign exchange cash to travellers, as any case of infraction will be
appropriately sanctioned.”
Suspension
In March, the CBN
had suspended foreign exchange sales to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators.
In a letter dated
March 25, the CBN noted that the suspension followed the government’s directive
to restrict gatherings to not more than 20 persons as part of measures aimed at
reducing person-to-person contact and curbing the transmission of the
coronavirus (COVID-19).
ABCON had earlier on
March 24 written to the apex bank, recommending a halt in the weekly sale of
forex to the BDCs.
This was after the
apex bank announced that dollar be sold by BDCs to end-users at N380 to a
dollar from the initial N360 to a dollar.
Earlier, the CBN had
collapsed the multiple exchange rate policy that determined the value of the
naira and adopted a single exchange rate.
The bank adopted a
uniform rate for the official rate, bureau de change operators, importers and
exporters, amongst others.
According to the
CBN, IMTSOs to banks will be at N376 per dollar, banks to CBN N377 per dollar,
CBN to Bureau de change operators N378 per dollar, BDCs to end-users should not
be more than N380 per dollar and the volume of sales for each market is $20
thousand per BDC.
While the CBN said
resumption of sales to BDCs is necessitated by the proposed plan to resume
international flight operations, the Nigerian government has postponed the
resumption of international flights.
The government said
it postponed the resumption to ensure all essential things were put in place.
International
flights, earlier scheduled to resume on August 29, will not commence on
September 5.
Weak Naira
Meanwhile, checks by
PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday showed that the naira weakened against the United
States dollar for the most part of the week.
Data obtained by
this newspaper showed that the naira sold at N477 against a (United States’)
dollar in the parallel market on Thursday.
Further analysis
showed that the Nigerian currency has retained the same N477/$1 value since
last Monday. It was however bought at N472 in the parallel market on Thursday.
In the same vein,
while the naira was valued at N615 against the British pound, it sold for N555
against the Euro up until press time Friday morning.
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