The Central Bank of Nigeria has suspended the sale of foreign exchange to Bureaux De Change operators till January 4, 2016.
The suspension, a normal practice in the financial services sector before Christmas and the New Year, is expected to generate some level of forex scarcity during the Yuletide season considering the continued pressure on the naira in recent times.
The CBN sold $10,000 each to 2,088 BDC operators in its weekly forex sale on Wednesday, the President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, told our correspondent.
The means a total of $20.8m (N4.1bn) was sold to the BDC segment during the weekly forex sale. Forex scarcity, which is causing persistent decline in the nation’s external reserves, has made the CBN to ration dollar supply to the banks, importers, the BDCs and the general public.
About two weeks ago, the CBN cut its weekly forex sale to the BDCs from $30,000 to $10,000 each.
Earlier, the central bank had refused to sell forex to over 1,600 BDCs over the absence of proper documentation. The development made the naira to fall from 241 to 280 at the parallel market in the past few weeks.
On Wednesday, the naira appreciated to 260 against the greenback.
The Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Ibrahim Mu’azu, however, said on Wednesday that the central bank had yet to make a statement on the suspension of forex sale to the BDCs.
The bank had on Monday closed the interbank foreign exchange market till January 4, 2016.
The closure, the norm in the banking sector, was expected to have been done not later than Monday, considering the position of the naira at the parallel market.
The naira had fallen to a record low of 280 to the dollar at the parallel market after beating what was initially regarded as a 42-year-low.
The CBN was expected to pump more forex into the parallel market through the BDCs, while the interbank forex market will remain shut throughout the festive period.
With both BDC segment and the interbank market now closed till January 4, dollar scarcity may rock the economy and the naira may further depreciate below N280.
The naira had opened on the parallel market on Monday at N265 to the greenback
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