The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Monday, January 11, announced that it will no longer sell forex to Bureaue de Change, BDC operators.
They are to source their foreign exchange from autonomous sources.
CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, who announced this in Abuja, said BDCs “must, however, note that the CBN would deploy more resources to monitoring these sources to ensure that no operator is in violation of our anti-money laundering laws”.
The apex bank also reversed its decision on the deposit of foreign currency in commercial banks, announcing that it will henceforth “permit commercial banks in the country to begin accepting cash deposits of foreign exchange from their customers”. Both decisions are to take effect immediately.
These measures, the CBN governor said “are not intended to be punitive on anyone or any group; rather, it is meant to ensure that the CBN is better able to carry out its mandate in an effective and efficient manner, which guarantees preservation of our scarce commonwealth, and that our hard-earned financial system stability remain intact to the benefit of all Nigerians.
The apex bank took these decisions because of what Emefiele described as “total disregard of the difficulties that the CBN is facing in meeting its mandate of maintaining the country’s foreign exchange reserves to safeguard the value of the Naira”.
