The Bureau De Change operators in Nigeria have appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN to resume FOREX sales this December to stabilize exchange rates between the official and parallel market rates.
Mr. Chidi Obasi, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge Way Bureau De Change Limited who made this call in a statement in Lagos on Friday said that the introduction of cash sales to BDCs by Central Bank of Nigeria in 2006 was still the best policy by CBN management to stabilize exchange rates between the official and parallel market rates.
Obasi, however, submitted that the current CBN Management’s inconsistency with this policy was the major cause of volatility and instability in forex exchange rate.
“The CBN started by selling forex directly to BDCs through all the CBN branches nationwide. At a time CBN engaged Travelex Limited and CFS Financials to act as agent to sell dollars to BDCs.
“In 2024 CBN resumed forex sales to BDCs but termed it intervention. And the IMTOs were originally formed to bring in diaspora remittances for sale through BDCs. But behold the retail forex market in Nigeria which is the BDCs have no sustainable forex source as a result of policy summersault.
“BDCs are prohibited from participating in the Black or parallel forex market where every Nigeria goes to sell forex. The other permissible outlets for sourcing forex by BDCs such as from tourist etc., are not working. And BDCs do not maintain customers account like banks thus difficult to source from domiciliary account”, he said.
He insisted that the recent approval for BDCs to source forex from AUTHORISED dealers was commendable but limited to BDCs who have completed recapitalisation adding that none had completed recapitalization yet.
“There is no other sustainable forex source to BDCs other than IMTO, NFEM and CBN allocation or sales”, Obasi concluded.
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