The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a circular to Bureau De Change operators (BDCs) on allocation of dollars to them.
The circular revealed that each BDC has been allocated $10,000 at a rate of N1,251/$1.
The circular, which was released on Monday, mandated the BDCs to sell the allocated dollars to eligible customers at a rate not exceeding 1.5 per cent above the purchase price, indicating that BDCs are expected to sell at a maximum of N1,269/$1.
The apex bank, however, did not state the number of BDCs that got the Forex allocation.
This is as the value of the naira resumed its appreciation on the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) closing on Monday at N1,408.04 to the dollar.
This is N14.81 or 1.04 per cent appreciation compared to N1,422.85 to the dollar when it began the day’s trading activities.
The appreciation is connected to the CBN’s recent policies aimed at rescuing the nation’s currency that has nosedived in value in recent times.
Recently, the apex bank cleared the dollars backlog, in a move to give confidence to foreign investors to further increase their level of Investments in the country
The circular states, “We refer to our letter to you referenced TED/DIR/CON/GOM/001/071 in respect of the above subject wherein the CB approved a second tranche of sale of FX to eligible BDCs.
“We write to inform you of the sale of $10,000 to each BDC at the rate of N1,251/$1. The BDCs are to sell to eligible end users at a spread of NOT MORE THAN 1.5 per cent above the purchase price.”
This announcement marks the resumption of dollar sales to BDC operators after a prolonged ban imposed by the central bank in 2021. The ban was lifted earlier this year following the revocation of licences of over 4,173 BDC operators in February.
Meanwhile, some financial experts have commended the federal government for some of its monetary policies that have led to the steady appreciation of the Naira against the dollar.
The Naira which had depreciated to all-time low of N1900/$1 gradually appreciated after the last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), exchanging at N1,405 to the dollar at the official Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) window and N1,450 to the dollar at the parallel market on Monday.
According to a past president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Okechukwu Unegbu, the aggressive monetary policy tightening adopted by the CBN appears to be paying off.
Unegbu urged the apex bank to continue its monetary policy tightening, while improving forex liquidity.
“A lot of people criticised the aggressive monetary policy tightening on the CBN, but it seems to be paying off.
