New Telegraph

BDCs to FG: New forex policy worsening economic woes

• Wants current FX policy reversed

 

With Dollar exchange rate to Naira nearing N600 per dollar, the Bureau De-Change operators, under the umbrella of Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), have urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to have a rethink of the association’s suspension from FX operation amid the untold hardship the policy is bringing in worsening Nigeria’s economic woes presently.

 

Already, CBN is set to raise the volume of its dollar supply to authorised banks to boost foreign exchange supply in the system.

 

The ABCON members are saying the recently implemented policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which suspended the issuance of foreign exchange (forex) to the Bureau De-Change operators has not brought any succour to forex distribution in the country.

Rather, it is skyrocketing the prices of Naira to Dollar exchange rate further.

 

President of the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, who disclosed this in an interview, said that reality checks have shown that since the Bureaux De Change Operators were suspended from FX participation, the country’s naira has been falling sharply, with forex scarcity hitting many key economies amid shortages and non availability at the Nigerian banks.

 

Gwadabe explained that Naira has further lost value to the US Dollar since the CBN started this implementation, urging the Apex Bank to reconsider its stance for the sake of saving the Naira.

 

He noted that ABCON’s concern was that when CBN came up with such erratic decision to suspend its members, they knew that it would come with lots of FX trajectories.

 

He said: “They do that from time to time but I am not exonerating my members from some of the accusations because I know what is happening but you cannot sanitize a problem with another problem or rubbish.

 

Definitely, that cannot yield the expected result. “Having known their modus operandi; which is to be using sledge hammer to kill a fly, this will not work in the present situation. Before you issue a statement, the CBN ought to have consulted with us and asked us to put our house in order, but it was not so.

 

“The implementation of this policy has brought untold hardship on the entire economy and Nigerians; it has also worsened the security situation as well as adversely affected those that import raw materials and machineries, as the government alone does not have the capacity to sustain the provision of the required forex in the country.

 

“It is important to note that the policy has not achieved its intended purpose.

 

Today, $1 US exchange exchanges for over N500, which cannot be reversed on the short run.

 

So, there is an urgent need for the CBN to go back to the drawing board, consult with the BDC operators who they licensed, and proffer solutions together.”

 

 

According the President, ABCON has over the years, created over N300 billion assets in the economy, judging by its capital base, stressing it has also created about 40,000 jobs over the years. He regretted that if this current policy is not reversed, it would worsen the country’s alarming unemployment situation

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