As part of its key functions of foreign exchange stability and to ensure liquidity in the market, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Sunday night directed all of its licenced Bureaux De Change (BDCs) to access its windows thrice weekly.
Such BDCs, according to Isaac Okorafor, Acting Director, Corporate Communications of the CBN, must henceforth be at the apex bank’s FX window compulsorily on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
“Any BDC that fails to access the forex window at least three times weekly shall have its licence reviewed by the CBN,” Okorafor added, as if to signal the level of seriousness of the order.
Also, as part of ensuring that eligible travelers obtain foreign exchange from the market with relative ease, the CBN also mandated deposit money banks in the country to buy and sell FX to travelers, whether customers or not.
Such customers are however to present “relevant, valid travel documents such as visa and ticket OVER THE COUNTER.
“All travelers shall be attended to immediately at the banks’ counters,” Okorafor added, warning that “any contravention shall be sanctioned by the CBN.”
Recall that at the end of its second meeting for the year on Tuesday, May 22, the CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), in communique noted the sustained stability in Nigeria’s FX market, which it said has been helped by an improved dollar liquidity in the market. This, the committee added in the communique signed by its chairman and CBN Governor, was due to the high level of activity at the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) window, which “is equally driving rates towards convergence at all segments of the market.”
The US$ liquidity, it noted, has resulted in a US$24.719bn total forex inflow through the economy between January and March 2018, with funding from the CBN representing a relatively smaller US$8.81bn or 28.5%, “while autonomous sources accounted for the larger balance of US$15.91bn or 71.5% of the total.”