Last week, the Nigerian weakened to N484/$1. It only appreciated by N1 on Monday to trade at N483/$1 and as press time, it was still stable at that rate.
The issue caused panic last week and the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has blamed this on forex speculators, who it said would soon regret their actions.
President of the group, Mr Aminu Gwadabe, in a statement, said these ‘economic sabotage’ were frustrating the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to bring sanity to the system.
According to him, the apex bank has the capacity to defend the local currency because of the robust external reserves, which presently stand at nearly $36 billion.
He warned that if these speculators refuse to back down, they stand the risk of losing their funds because the CBN will continue to defend the Naira and close the widening gaps between official and parallel market rates.
ABCON described these elements as enemies of the economy forcing the Naira to depreciate through speculative activities, threatening that they would be punished.
The organisation applauded the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, for his initiatives aimed at achieving exchange rate stability by ensuring that foreign currencies were made available to manufacturers and end-users, who needed the funds for their medical trips, school fees payment, travel allowances among others.
He noted that the funding of BDC operators has also helped to deepen the forex market and reduce the level of scarcity that always form the basis for speculative activities.
“I think that the CBN by pushing the official foreign exchange rate from N306 to N379 to the dollar is in line with market demand.
“It has also helped to narrow the official-parallel market rates gap that formed the basis of ridiculous speculations among unpatriotic forex dealers and spectators,” Mr Gwadabe said, advising the federal government to enhance security surveillance at the nation’s borders to checkmate illegal foreign currency cash transactions.
– Business Post