Central Bank stops forex sales to Bureau De Change operators

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stopped forex sales to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators in the country.

The Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele announced this at the end of the monetary policy committee’s meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

Emefiele said BDC operators have become a conduit for illegal financial flows working with corrupt people to conduct illicit flows and money laundering in Nigeria.

Godwin Emefiele, who spoke shortly after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, accused BDCs of deliberate economic sabotage and misusing the weekly $20,000 allocation to them.

“The MPC made the decision to hold all parameters constant. The committee thought by unanimous vote to retain the Monetary Policy Rate at 11.5 per cent.

“In summary, MPC voted as follows, one, retain MPR at 11.5 per cent; retain the asymmetric corridor of +100/-700 basis points around the MPR; retain the CRR at 27.5 per cent; and retain the Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent.” he said.

According to him, international development finance institutions, embassies and others are supposed to patronise the importer and exporter window, where there is transparency.

Henceforth, previous allocation of foreign exchange to BDCs will now be given to banks to sell to customers.

In addition, the CBN governor accused BDCs of dollarisation of the Nigerian economy.

Some other allegations against BDCs are that: they have become an avalanche of rent seeking operators; owners owning multiple BDCs; and financing unauthorized transactions.