The Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to reduce its buying rate for the US dollar to hasten recovery.
ABCON revealed that the N1,251 per dollar buying rate that the CBN pegged for the dealers would result in losses for its members, as the naira currently trades at N1,235 per dollar in the open market.
The currency dealers disclosed this in a letter signed by ABCON President Aminu Gwadabe, addressed to CBN’s trade and exchange department director.
The apex bank recently announced the second phase of sales of Forex to BDCs at N1,251 per dollar. The association said it is the first time that the buying rate for CBN will be higher than the open market value.
ABCON said: “We discovered a worrisome development where many of our members who paid for dollar allocations at N1,251/$ with a margin of 1.5% are yet to receive their disbursement.
This is happening in the face of the prevailing open market rate of N1,235/$, which is lower than the authorised applicable exchange rate by the CBN to the BDCs.”
TheCable reports that ABCON predicts that the naira will continue to appreciate across all forex markets due to the increasing sources of FX inflows caused by CBN policies. The dollar currently sells at lower than CBN rates The group also said its prediction for the ongoing market development shows its willingness to self-correct with realistic price discovery.
According to reports, the association begged the apex bank to review the current rate of N1,251 per dollar downwards to allow its members to upload their holding positions.
The group also asked for a review of the payment process at the different disbursement centres to medium-term automation to achieve enhanced timely payments due to the spot nature of its transactions.
It said the open-ended system for payments and collection of bids did not make or allow for effective administration and control of the process. It asked the CBN to introduce a cut-off time for payments and collection bids.
This development comes as the naira appreciated further in the parallel segment of the foreign exchange market, trading at N1,247 per dollar as against the N1,250 it traded on Friday, April 5, 2024.
