CBN increases dollar sales to BDCs by $20,000

…as naira appreciates by 1.16% to dollar

By Odunewu Segun

The Central Bank of Nigeria has raised the weekly limit of forex banks can sell to Bureaux De Change operators from $30,000 to $50,000

This was disclosed by the Managing Director of United Bank for Africa, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka after the Bankers Committee Meeting held in Abuja yesterday. He said the decision to increase the amount was taken to drive down the price of the dollar and ensure that people get enough to pay school fees as schools are about to reopen, and also because people who will be traveling at this period will require Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) and PTA.

“The issue of making foreign exchange available to Nigerians has been very topical and the CBN has been working very hard to address this. “About two weeks ago, a policy was released that made banks to send money to the BDCs and the BDCs are supposed to pass this money to Nigerians for various needs.”

Also, the Managing director of Zenith Bank, Peter Amangbo, in his own remark noted that “there will always be disparity in savings and interest rate” and stressed that “the gap is not as wide as people think it is and the longer people save the more interest they will earn.”

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On her part, the CBN’s director of Banking Supervision, Mrs Tokunbo Martins, disclosed that the decision to increase the amount that BDCs can purchase from banks was not a reversal of the earlier decision but a tweaking of the earlier decision because the country is battling a dollar crisis.

The apex bank had in the circular issued two weeks ago directed banks to provide BDCs with a maximum of $30,000 per week.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s local currency appreciated by 1.16 per cent against the dollar at the spot FX market yesterday to close at N313.65

At the parallel market the US Dollar was bought from market operators at N390 and sold at N394 compared to previous day’s rates of N385 and N393 respectively.

The Euros was bought at N423 and sold at N437 also in contrast to previous day’s rates of N420 and N423 while the Naira appreciated against the Pound Sterling having been bought at the rate of N495 and sold at N500 compared to Monday’s rates of N505 and N510.