Forex Speculators To Lose N100bn As CBN Sustains Funding For BDCs

Foreign exchange speculators will lose over N100 billion in the next month as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sustains massive funding for Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators.

President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Dr Aminu Gwadabe, who disclosed this, on Friday, in Lagos, said the CBN is committed to improving funding for over 5,000 BDCs nationwide in a new move to deepen market liquidity and protect the naira against speculators.

He called for the return of normalcy to the market as the ongoing speculative behaviour hampering the market operations and stability would cause a huge loss to speculators.

The ABCON boss linked the continued fall of the naira at the parallel market and Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) Forex window to currency speculators hoarding dollars to profit from the currency crisis.

He said the perpetrators were creating artificial scarcity of the greenback within the market to cause more woes for the local currency.

The naira was, on Friday, May 22, exchanging at N485/$1 at the parallel market and N411.25/ $1 at the I&E Forex window.

Gwadabe said the ABCON management and the CBN-licensed BDCs would fight alongside the regulator to ensure that speculators lose their capital should they persist in the illegal activity.

“The ABCON and CBN have observed with disdain the speculative behaviour currently beclouding the market with the misinformation that the CBN has adopted I&E window as its official rate. The above information is not true because as operators, we still funded our accounts at our normal rates of N393/$  and not the I&E window rates for our operation this  Friday,” he said.

The ABCON leadership, therefore, advised its members not to join on that behaviour as CBN remained resolute with its partnership with the group and was considering various options to induce liquidity in the sector.

“ABCON will continue to keep you posted and guide you accordingly. We urge all members to continue to give the CBN the utmost support as a strategic partner and in the interest of the economy,” he said.

He said that CBN-licensed BDCs were fighting back by supporting the apex bank in tackling forex speculators and reiterating commitment to operate within set rules.

Gwadabe said the “Naira for Dollar Policy” being implemented by the CBN would further lift market liquidity and improve naira status.

The policy, he added, would provide Nigerians in the Diaspora with cheaper and more convenient ways of sending remittances to Nigeria and increase dollar inflows into the economy.

Gwadabe said  BDCs would continue to defend the naira through compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), supporting CBN’s exchange rate stability policies.

In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state.  Forex speculators to lose N100bn as CBN sustains funding for BDCs.

– Nigerian Tribune