The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the sale of foreign exchange worth $20,000 to eligible Bureau De Change (BDC) operators nationwide. This decision was communicated in a statement signed by the Acting Director of Trade and Exchange Department, Dr. W.J. Kanya.
The CBN stated that this intervention aims to help BDCs meet retail market demand for eligible invisible transactions, particularly following a recent depreciation of the naira against the dollar, which fell to N1,658.48 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday. In the parallel market, BDC operators reported a selling rate of N1,670 per dollar.
According to the statement, the CBN has set the sale rate at N1,590 per dollar and cautioned BDCs not to sell above one percent of this purchase rate. This means that BDCs can earn a maximum profit of N15.59 on each dollar sold to customers.
The statement outlined that all BDCs must adhere to selling at this margin and provided instructions for payment and documentation to collect the foreign exchange. This marks the CBN’s seventh attempt to sell forex to BDCs since lifting a prolonged suspension earlier this year, which had followed the revocation of licenses for over 4,173 BDC operators in February.
With 1,583 approved BDC operators, the CBN’s latest initiative could inject approximately $31.66 million into the retail market. Meanwhile, the naira continued to slide, trading at N1,667.42 after a drop of N9, or 0.53 percent, from the previous day’s closing.
