The value of the Naira continued to fall on Wednesday in both the official and unofficial markets. Resumption of stockpiling and speculation drove this depreciation, which was made worse by several Bureaux De Change (BDCs) pulling out of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) dollar sales programme.
The Naira’s value decreased to N1,435 per dollar in the parallel market from N1,415 per dollar the day before, despite measures to stop street currency trading.
At N1,421.06 per dollar on the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), it declined.
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The Naira had a notable devaluation of N4.49, according to data from FMDQ, with the indicative exchange rate dropping to N1,421.06 per dollar.
As a result, the difference in pricing between the NAFEM and parallel market grew to N13.94 per dollar.
In order to address this and stabilise the retail forex market, the CBN started selling dollars to BDCs again in February.
BDC operators, however, have complained about the CBN’s sluggish dollar distribution, citing three to four weeks as the average time between payment and receipt.
Some BDCs have asked the CBN to reimburse them for their Naira payments because of these delays and the unpredictability of the market.
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Leading BDC operators verified this pattern in an anonymous statement to Vanguard, pointing out that several BDCs have already gotten their returns.
Speaking to Newsmen on condition of anonymity, the Chief Executive of a BDC said, “I think the CBN is overwhelmed. You pay money and it takes one month for you to collect $10,000. It is over a month now since they intervened and they have not intervened again.
“Even the last one that they did some BDCs are just collecting the dollars. Some are even saying they should return their money. They are asking for a refund because there are many challenges. Some have paid but their name is appearing in another location which makes it impossible to collect the dollars. Some are getting their refund but it is a very slow pace too.”
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Also speaking on condition of anonymity, another BDC operator said, “There is no supply. The CBN supply is slow. They sell one tranche for one month. It is too low. If they don’t have the money they should tell us we don’t have the money.”
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