BDC operators task CBN on exchange rate review

The Association of Bureaux de Change Operators of Nigeria has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria to review the exchange rate band at which Bureaux de Change buy dollars to align with commercial banks’ buying rate.
The president of the association, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, ahead of the 261st meeting of the CBN-led Monetary Policy Committee scheduled to hold next week in Abuja, told our correspondent in Lagos over the weekend, that the BDC operators still buy dollars from International Money Transfer Operators as directed by the CBN at N360/$ and sell at N361.5/$, whereas, commercial banks buy at N357/$ and sell at N360/$.
He, therefore, urged the CBN to merge the BDCs and bank rates to achieve market harmony and level-playing field for all stakeholders, adding that the underlying market intrigues and political anxieties in the country are pointers that the CBN needs to listen to ABCON’s demand and merge both rates in the interest of the naira and the economy.
Gwadabe said leaving the rates as they are presently does not allow healthy competition between both segments of the market.
He explained that the ongoing losses being recorded in the equities market, where over N700 billion had been lost in recent weeks, as well as speculative tendencies among big foreign exchange players, would continue to constitute a big threat to the exchange rate stability.
According to him, the rising naira liquidity, high demand for dollars in the travel seasons, payment for school fees for students studying abroad and rising forex demand at the retail end of the market, remain big concerns for exchange rate stability.
Gwadabe, however, said that despite the near gloomy picture painted above, all hopes are not lost on the state of the economy, market and CBN’s goal of achieving exchange rate stability.
He cited the growing fiscal buffers which have seen the foreign exchange reserves hit $47.8 billion and the financial discipline seen in current administration, as a big plus for the economy and Naira’s stability.