Following the discontinuation of sale of foreign exchange (FX) to Bureaux De Change (BDCs) operators in the country by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the naira has dropped to N522 to a dollar at the parallel market.
According to data on abokiFX.com, a website that collates parallel rates in Lagos, the local currency which opened today’s trading at N505/$1, lost N17 or about 3.4 percent in midday trading.
At the importer & exporter (I&E) window, it traded moderately to close at N411.50 per dollar.
Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele on Tuesday announced the discontinuation of forex sales to BDCs.
The CBN governor said BDC operators have become agents of money laundering in Nigeria.
He said the CBN would channel weekly allocations of dollar sales to commercial banks to meet legitimate FX demands and mandated banks to sell forex to every customer who meets requirements.
But a top insider at CBN disclosed that the apex bank may be unable to meet requests of banks to serve all customers as mandated.
