Nigerian Naira has dropped to N522/$1 at the parallel market after the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) discontinued the sale of forex to Bureaux De Change(BDCs) operators in the country.
According to check on AbokiFX.com, the local currency which opened today’s trading at N505/$1, lost N17 or about 3.4 percent by midday
On Tuesday, the apex bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele stopped the sales of the foreign exchange to the BDCs operators saying it is had deviated from its main objectives.
He said the operators have become agents of money laundering in the country.
Emefiele said the apex bank would channel the weekly allocations of dollars to commercial banks to meet legitimate FX demands and mandated banks to sell forex to every customer who meets requirements.
Reactions have since trailed the apex bank decision, with some insider sources saying that the apex bank may be unable to meet requests of banks to serve all customers as mandated.
Sources said CBN allocates about $20,000 weekly to each BDC operators in the country – amounting to about $111 million dollars weekly and $5.72 billion yearly to the parallel market.
According to the source, commercial banks come with bids of $1.3 every fortnight and CBN cannot provide more than $250 million.
