The Association of Bureau De Change Operators has said it is working with the Central Bank of Nigeria for the dollar sale to BDCs to be increased to $15,000 weekly.
The CBN, had through the International Money Transfer Organisations, resumed the sale of dollars to BDCs in January, after stopping it for almost a month due to the Yuletide holiday.
The President, ABCON, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, told our correspondent on Wednesday that the CBN had cleared 3,114 BDCs for this week’s collection of the proceeds of IMTOs.
The rates closed at 460/$ on Wednesday from 463/$, he said.
He said, “The volatility in the market is evidenced of the scarcity at the BDCs sub-sector despite the injection of liquidity in the interbank market.
“ABCON is working with the CBN for review of volumes for the BDCs next week from the present volume of $8,000 per week to $15,000 weekly from the beginning of next week.”
He warned ABCON members not be involved in hoarding and speculation as “the apex bank is determined to smoke speculators and hawkers out of their holes”.
The CBN said on Wednesday it would sell $100m in currency forwards on the interbank market to clear a backlog of dollar demand from business and individuals.
According to Reuters, the bank said in a note to commercial lenders that the intervention would require lenders to submit single bids to cover their demand for hard currency. The sale will be settled within 60 days.
The central bank has intervened on the forex market in the past two weeks as it attempts to narrow the spread between Nigeria’s official and black market dollar rates.
