The Director, Trade and Exchange Department of the CBN, Dr Hassan Mahmud, made this known in a letter addressed to the President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) on Tuesday in Abuja.
Mahmud said that the CBN would sell to the BDCs at the rate of N1, 021 to a dollar.
“The BDCs are in turn to sell to eligible end users at a spread of not more than 1.5 per cent above the purchase price,” he said.
He directed all eligible BDCs to commence payment of Naira deposit to some designated CBN Naira deposit account numbers and CBN would sell to the BDCs thereafter.
“All BDCs are advised to continue to abide by the rules and conditions as stipulated in our earlier operational guidelines,” he said.
BRANDPOWER reports that the apex bank had earlier, on April 8, approved the sale of 10,000 dollars to 1,588 eligible BDCs operators at the rate of N1,101 to the dollar.
The approvals are part of CBN’s intervention in the foreign exchange market to improve liquidity and stabilise the Naira.
The PUNCH reports that Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves have experienced a one-month dip streak.
According to the latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, the external reserves reached a new low of $32.1bn on April 18, 2024, over 31 days, the reserves decreased by $2.35bn, falling from $34.45bn on March 18, 2024
However, during the International Monetary Fund/World Bank Spring Meetings, the CBN governor Olayemi Cardoso clarified that the bank would avoid intervening in the exchange unless unusual circumstances arose. He emphasised that the recent slight shift in reserves was unrelated to defending the naira.
The governor stated, “I want to make this as clear as possible, it is not in our intention to defend the naira. and as much I have read in the recent few days, some opinions concerning what is happening with our reserves and if the central bank is defending the naira.”
