The Nigerian Naira’s decline persisted as it reached a rate of 980 Naira per US dollar in the parallel market on Wednesday, marking a significant drop from the previous week’s rate of 950 Naira per dollar. Bureau de Change operators attributed this depreciation to a shortage of foreign currency.
Idris Musa, a BDC operator, stated, “Today, we bought and sold the Naira at rates of 965/$ and 980/$, respectively, due to a lack of available dollars.” Another BDC operator, Yusuf Kareem, expressed uncertainty about the future direction of the exchange rate, saying, “The dollar was traded at 980 today, and we are unsure whether it will continue to rise or potentially decrease.”
However, at the Investor & Exporter forex window on the FMDQ platform, the Naira experienced a slight appreciation, closing at 770.71 Naira per US dollar on Wednesday, compared to 776.76 Naira per dollar on Tuesday.
The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) recently called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to grant Bureaux De Change operators greater digital autonomy to work towards exchange rate convergence. ABCON’s President, Dr. Aminu Gwadabe, emphasized that BDCs source foreign currencies from various channels, including private sources and the CBN window, as determined by the CBN for purposes such as Business Travel Allowance, Personal Travel Allowance, school fees payments abroad, medical expenses, mortgages, personal home remittances, and subscriptions.
Gwadabe also highlighted that ABCON had trained compliance officers to ensure adherence to requirements, especially regarding monthly result reporting and tracking illicit capital flows. He affirmed that BDCs were complying with the reporting of suspicious transactions, as directed by the NFIU, CBN, and EFCC, and were committed to following all applicable rules and regulations prescribed by the CBN, with close supervision and monitoring by the central bank.
