Monday’s stoppage of foreign exchange sales to Bureau De Change operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria failed to lift the naira on Tuesday as the currency exchanged for 300 against the United States dollar in Kano, 290 in Lagos and 292 in Abuja.

Financial experts said the naira would decline further, while private sector operators described the move as a welcome development.

The ban was announced on Monday, when naira trading at 285 against the dollar at the parallel market from 278 on Friday.

The Acting President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, told one of correspondents in a telephone interview that the currency traded against the greenback at 300, 290 and 292 in Kano, Lagos and Abuja a day after the CBN announcement.

“There is cut of (dollar) supply to the market. The BDC sub-sector has been murdered. We are not coping. The naira is going to head northwards. There is no solution in sight,” Gwadabe lamented.

The Head of Investment Research, Afrinvest West Africa Limited, Mr. Ayodeji Ebo, said the stoppage of forex sale to the BDCs meant that the CBN wanted everybody to apply to the banks for dollars.

He stated, “But we feel the pressure now will move from the BDCs to the parallel market. We will see significant spike in the value of the naira at the parallel market because the little supply to the BDCs have also helped to cushion the demand at the parallel market.

“It will further compound or increase the spread between the parallel market and the interbank market. So, it will also increase round-tripping and unethical practices within the financial system.”

On the lifting of the ban on cash deposits into domiciliary accounts, Ebo said, “I am still sceptical about how this will work except they are also assuring us that if you deposit it, you can consummate business with it.”

A professor of financial economics at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Leo Ukpong, said, “I don’t think the stoppage of dollar sale to the BDCs will solve the problem. The currency will depreciate some more.

“This move will make the naira to weaken more as demand for dollar will skyrocket because of the short supply.”

Members of the organised private sector, however, applauded the CBN for the stopping the sale of dollars to the BDCs and lifting the ban on cash deposits into domiciliary accounts.

The President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Dr. Frank Jacobs, said industrialists had earlier kicked against the funding of the BDCs by the central bank, adding that with the development, the forex could be channelled towards funding the real sector in terms of importation of raw materials.

On the removal of the restriction of cash deposits into domiciliary accounts, Jacobs said manufacturers were still waiting for more clarification as to how the money deposited could be utilised by the customers.

The Director-General, the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Mr. Emmanuel Cobham, said the forex sale ban was a welcome development.

According to him, although the BDCs are necessary in the economy, they are licensed entities and should, therefore, source for their own funds.

Also speaking on the matter, the Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Muda Yusuf, lauded the forex policy review, noting that it had addressed the concerns of economic operators.

According to him, it is a source of worry that the CBN continues to maintain its official exchange rate at N199 to the dollar at a time of dwindling forex inflow.

“The pressure on the official window will persist. The risk of round-tripping and distortions in the foreign exchange market will consequently remain high,” he said.

ZKOSOSO:
Buhariiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. Wake up.
Economy on fire.

Kikero112:


So...what do you want him to do?

What do you think that GEJ would have done if he was still in charge.?

What the CBN has done is the best of two bad choices. The other one.....straight devaluation....would have crashed our naira further.

We are paying the price for an oil dependent economy. And it is going to take more than seven months and lots of hard work to get off the oil dependency.

ZZ22:
anu mpama

bamite:
All the posters above me are ignoramus. The spike is due to the economic shock which always accompanies monetary policies such as these, its just a short term reaction. No need to panic, the naira will rebound in no distant time. Wailers this one no be food for una so just chill and keep sipping your cup of burukutu

Kikero112:


And in response.....

You want to avoid problems like the one we are in?

We have to become an industrial nation producing good quality industrial goods.....WHICH can then be exported for large amounts of forex.

Devaluing our currency under those circumstances would be beneficial to us...because it makes our exports cheaper.....and imports expensive....reducing our dependency on imports.

We cannot do that now...because our industries are dependent on imported goods.

Judge the present govt on how it does in that area.

trillville:


Your post is correct in a situation where a country is stable and trying to grow and diversify its economy. Nigeria is not in a stable state. Our economy is being torn to pieces and we are at the brink of collapse. $10 dollars per barrel is a possibility, and at this point in time, we must prepare for such an occurrence.


To fail to plan is to plan to fail. I am very pro-buhari by the way.

ichidodo:
Haaahaaa...Gullible Nigerians and APC election propaganda...

bamite:
All the posters above me are ignoramus. The spike is due to the economic shock which always accompanies monetary policies such as these, its just a short term reaction. No need to panic, the naira will rebound in no distant time. Wailers this one no be food for una so just chill and keep sipping your cup of burukutu

Kikero112:


Yes.....and our only route out of this is by diversifying.

Into industries....not by selling raw materials whose price we do not control.

Industrial development , however , is not attractive to most Nigerians because it means they have to work for their money. Under our resource dependency.....we just earn money and share the resources.

What the government is doing now is just steadying the ship.I wait for them to start focusing on getting our power situation improved...while raising taxes removing subsides, and ending corruption to increase our treasury's size.

Kikero112:


As you are laughing....remember that we are in this situation because the other guys ....PDP.....forgot to save enough money in the account, and forgot to diversify our economy sufficiently.

And if they were STILL in charge .....they would be doing the same thing.

The elephant in the room is AUSTERITY.....and it remains to be seen whether Nigerians and the current government are ready to make that sacrifice.

So don't laugh. Seven months is hardly enough time to reverse the mess of four years of failure to save.....and of failure to properly diversify.

Nigeria must now work for its money.

hollywater:
Good news. Inform me when it get to 500, let me go and sale my 2$.