MMS PLUS NG – Maritime, Aviation, Business, Oil and Gas News Online Newspaper with coverage in Maritime, Oil and Gas, Aviation, Power and Energy as well as Financial News
The President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, says the association is ready to partner the Central Bank of Nigeria to sensitise its members on the newly-introduced flexible foreign exchange policy.
He said ABCON believed the new forex regime would achieve its objectives if carefully and effectively implemented.
He spoke in Lagos during an interactive session between stakeholders and the CBN officials.
The forum was used to sensitise ABCON members from across the country on the new forex regime.
While highlighting the relevance of the BDC operators in the forex markert, the ABCON leader said there was the need for the CBN to collaborate with the BDC operators to bridge the gap between the exchange rates at the parallel market and the official interbank market.
Gwadabe said, “The new policy is quite commendable as it allows for a market determination of the exchange rate. The present situation in the foreign exchange market is terribly skewed against the BDCs and the result is the huge gap between the interbank and the parallel market exchange rates. This provides opportunity for sharp practices.
“We are also concerned that if not properly implemented, the new policy may lead to huge forex related losses by manufacturers, further rise in inflation and decline in the Gross Domestic Product rate, further depletion of external reserves, increased pressure on the CBN to ensure compliance and transparency in the interbank market.”
The Deputy Director, Financial Policy and Regulation, CBN, Anthony Ikem, said the CBN recognised the economic importance of the market operators and was not unaware of the possible effect of the new forex regime on BDCs.
He, however, called for their cooperation as the economic managers continued to monitor the implementation of the new forex policy.
