…Orders banks to open FX outlets in airports
Kunle Kalejaye
20 February 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN on Monday announced a new Foreign Exchange policy which would see it immediately supply dollars to commercial banks who will resell them at a margin of not more than 20 percent above the interbank rate of N305 per dollar.
This means that Nigeria’s currency will sell at N366 to a dollar on the parallel market.
The new policy follows last Thursday’s directive by the National Economic Council, NEC, for immediate review to stem the widening gap between the inter-bank foreign exchange and parallel market rates.
The immediate supply of dollars to commercial banks is aimed at meeting the needs of Nigerians for personal and business travel, medical needs, and school fees.
“All banks would receive amounts commensurate with their demand per week, which would be sold to customers who meet usual basic documentary requirements,” CBN said.
CBN explained in a statement that it would activate the market’s order-book as soon as possible and accelerate currency matching of the trading platform to ensure transparency.
“Given our plan to meet all unfilled orders, and while the provision of FX to the manufacturing sector would remain the central bank’s strong priority, we will no longer impose allocation/utilisation rules on commercial banks,” CBN said in a statement.
“In order to further ease the burden of travellers and ensure that transactions are settled at much more competitive exchange rates, the CBN hereby directs all banks to open FX retail outlets at major airports as soon as logistics permit.
“Given the CBN’s objective to continuously and vigorously pursue a transparent, liquid, and efficient FX Market, the Bank reiterates it would neither tolerate unscrupulous actions nor hesitate to bring serious sanctions on offenders, be they banks or their staff.
“The Bank therefore, encourages market participants to assist in ensuring that these new measures engender the preservation of our external reserves, stability of our financial system, and growth of our economy to the benefit of all Nigerian,” CBN Ag Director, Corporate Communication Isaac Okorafor added.