CBN bends again, says BDCs can now get $50,000 weekly

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has taken another bend to its initial decision to halt forex sale to bureau de change operators (BDCs), by conceding $50,000 to the BDCs weekly.

Earlier in the year, the CBN halted foreign exchange (forex) sale to the BDCs, stating that they were exploiting the apex bank.

The CBN however reversed that decision earlier in August, authorising banks to sell $30,000 to BDCs on a weekly basis, a decision the BDCs lauded, but claimed could be better.

On Tuesday however, the CBN, took another concession, by yielding to the yearnings of the BDCs, and increasing forex sale to $50,000 per week.

The decision was made at the bankers’ committee meeting in Abuja and communicated to the press by Kennedy Uzokam, managing director of United Bank for Africa (UBA), at a briefing after the meeting.

“As you all know the issue of making foreign exchange available to Nigerians has been very topical and the CBN has been working hard to address this,” he said.

“About two weeks ago, a policy was released that made banks to sell monies to BDCs and BDCs   are supposed to pass these monies to Nigerians to meet various needs.

“At the meeting today and as expected, we got feedback from the market and the CBN being a responsive regulator has decided to move the limit from $30,000 per BDC to $50, 000.

“We believe that this development will make more cash available to the BDCs and increase the supply and this will help to drive down the price.”

He said the decision was due to the fact that the CBN expects that many Nigerians are returning to school and are in need of forex.

“CBN and the Bankers Committee have reviewed this and we know people are going back to school.   They need money.   People have other responsibilities like travelling abroad during this period.   Should we say let us hold to our position when we know the reality?”

Isaac Okorafor, the CBN acting director of communications, said the decision was not a policy reversal, but a response to the needs of Nigerians.

The policy aims to close the gap  between the interbank and parallel market rates of the naira to other currencies across the world.