As the naira continues to plummet against foreign currencies, some Bureau de Change (BDC) operators have placed some of the blame on the new forex policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), claiming the decision to ban them from the official forex window is responsible for the deteriorating situation.
Making this assertion on Channels Television during the “Business Morning” show, the South West Chairman, Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Mr. Taiwo Ebenezer said the BDCs got five percent forex allocation before the ban.
According to him:
“We accessed some of these windows until 2014, when the current CBN governor took over the apex bank, and operators of BDC were banned from having access to such windows. We have written to CBN and suggested that these windows be opened, if not, we should not be surprised to see naira depreciating up to 400 and above per dollar. Also, about 30.000 of our members across the country became jobless due to new CBN policy on forex.”
Continuing, he said:
“If CBN can sustain that five percent, the scarcity will drop, thereby allowing the naira to appreciate a little. In 2015, the economy recorded about $20billion remittance from Nigerians abroad. If the CBN can approve for us to access this source of forex and other windows like dollars from International Oil Companies, exports proceeds and other windows as part of the autonomous market sources, the exchange rate would reduce to at least N250 per dollar.”
He further defended his constituency:
“The BDC plays a crucial role in the financial system because we give dollars to operators of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), business travelers, people travelling abroad for urgent medical services, those going on vacation and people going to school abroad. So, let the apex bank relax some of its forex policies for scarcity of forex to reduce.”
