……..Operators say move will harmonise rates
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has approved an upward review of the trading margin available to operators of Bureau de Change (BDC) in the country.
The BDC operators are now to buy the United States dollar from the apex bank at the rate of N357/$1 and sell at N360, leaving them a positive margin of N3.00 per dollar sold.
Confirming this to newsmen on Monday, the Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, at the bank, Mr Isaac Okorafor, said the decision was aimed at giving BDCs a level playing field to enable them compete favourably with other authorised foreign exchange (forex) dealers.
Okorafor urged the BDC operators to abide by the new guidelines and not exploit eager customers by selling above the N360 band. He warned that erring BDCs would be sanctioned in any case of infraction established against them.
Recall that the CBN, in a March 2017 policy directed licensed BDCs to purchase forex from it at N360 to a dollar, while selling same to customers at no more than N362/$1.
At the time of the directive, the bank sought convergence between the rates in the inter-bank window and that of the BDCs.
With the rates in both windows now converged, CBN seeks to ensure a level playing field and sustain the liquidity in the forex market.
Meanwhile, the CBN in its first sale of the month, yesterday, June 4, 2018, offered the sum of $100 million to dealers in the wholesale segment of the market to meet the requests of customers. Similarly, the bank sold $55m each to customers in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) window as well as those in the invisibles segment.
The acting President of the Association of Bureau de Change of Nigeria, Aminu Gwadabe, welcomed the development, describing it as reflecting the determination of the apex bank in achieving a single exchange regime.
Gwadabe said: “We have expressed concern in the past about this disparity and today, we are happy to note that this move will ensure transparency and stability in the forex market.”
