CBN Disburses $240 Million Forex To BDCs

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) resumes this week’s foreign exchange market intervention today with a disbursement of $240 million.

Of the sum, $90 million is for invisibles – business/personal travel allowances, medical, school fees, among others, while $150 million goes to interbank wholesale auction window targeted at real sector operators.

The move, meant to stabilise the interbank market and weaken speculators by strengthening the naira at the parallel market, would also help to return all rates to near convergence.

CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, who confirmed the development, added that the apex bank had adjusted the planned sale of dollars to bureaux de change (BDCs).

According to him, the bank now offers dollar auction to the BDCs only on Tuesdays to reduce logistical difficulties, while they will, from today, be offered $10,000 each for resale to end users.

To ease access to customers, he confirmed that the CBN had directed banks to make cash available to desirous foreign exchange customers at over-the-counter transactions.

Warning commercial banks and other dealers against sabotaging the efforts, he advised customers to report infractions to the CBN through 07002255226 or email to [email protected], with the name and branch of the bank.

The financial institutions had mid last week refused to sell dollars to some customers seeking to buy forex for business/personal travel allowances, medical and school fees, citing insufficient allocation. But the apex bank described the claim as false.

The CBN has in the recent months made offers and releases to the inter-bank foreign exchange market in its bid to sustain forex rule supply to different categories of users.