Ahead of the planned resumption of sales of foreign exchange (forex) to the parallel market by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the naira strengthened against the dollar at a buying rate of N450/$ and sale rate of #455/$ on Monday.
That was lower than the sale rate of buying at N470/$ and selling at N475/$ last Friday. Forex speculators are also anxious that the recent move by CBN will force down the rate of exchange between the naira and the dollar at the black market segment.
CBN postponed the resumption date for international flights to September 5th, 2020 as a result of the need to “fine-tune protocols and guidelines.
The Apex Bank had issued a number of circulars last week in a bid to strengthen the naira ahead of the official opening on the country’s airspace to international flight.
The CBN said it will sell $10,000 per bureau de change operator ahead of the reopening of the air space.
Some speculators who spoke with our reporter on the condition of anonymity said they are pondering offloading at the current rate of N470 before panic sets in.
An FX street trader, Ibrahim Yusuf, said the market yesterday (Monday) was poor because customers are afraid that the exchange rate will strengthen if the CBN pumps in forex to the BDCs. “I have already lost some money over the weekend and I will avoid buying forex at the moment”.
Reacting, the National President of Association of Bureau De Change, Aminu Gwadabe, said “We have started funding our account since last Friday and the CBN confirmed to us that they will resume sales on the 7th of September.”
He said the resumption of sales to BDCs will in no doubt inject robust liquidity to the critical retail end sector of the market and usher in stability, discourage hoarding and speculation.
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