By Oluwatosin Maliki
The Association of Bureau de Change (BDC) Operators of Nigeria has warned currency speculators to exercise caution as the Naira strengthens against the American dollar in the Forex-Exchange market.
As gathered by Quest Times, PUNCH received an exclusive message from the President of ABCON, Aminu Gwadabe, the association explained that the Central Bank of Nigeria was set to inflict pain on currency speculators.
The statement read, “What is happening in the market and the continuous naira rebound are the manifestations of the CBN double-edged sword measures of dollar liquidity injection and naira mopping through the instrumentality of interest rates hikes”.
Gwadabe said, “It is a good development as it is (now) a great risk to speculate, hoard and substitute naira for other currencies”.
Furthermore, the local currency had gained by 15.18 per cent to N950/$ in the alternative market on Friday from 1,120/$ it traded the previous day.
Also, the dollar was sold for 783.67/$ in the Importers’ and Exporters’ forex window, as compared to 807.27/$ on Thursday, this is according to data obtained from the CBN website.
The progress made by the naira as it reversed the depreciating trend which was witnessed this year came after the CBN started to clear the forex demand backlog in banks.
ABCON noted, “As we continue to observe developments, there is the need for caution in attacking the naira, as it all appears that the CBN has got the arsenal and the logic to continue to enshrine the success recorded”.
The association further pointed out that there had been “Panic selling as against panic buying.”
Consequently, the BDC operators called on the apex bank to continue to make clarifications and implement some of their recommendations to include them in the foreign exchange market.
Additionally, Gwadabe stated that such inclusion would also enable BDCs to play a key role in meeting the demands of the critical retail end sector, “As they pose as pass-through effects of the central bank foreign exchange rate policy of stability and elimination of disparities in the overall market.”
“The BDCs are necessary for the demand measures of the apex bank transaction monitoring mechanism, and clients’ utilisation with correcting and moderating potential,” he added.