The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) resumed the sale of foreign exchange to eligible Bureau De Change operators on Thursday, as the naira fell to 1,570/$ at the parallel market
The CBN sold the dollar to BDCs at a rate of 1,450/$.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by AA Mahdi for the acting director of the Trade and Exchange Department at the CBN.
The apex bank said, “Following the ongoing reforms in the foreign exchange market, with the objective of achieving an appropriate market-determined exchange rate for the naira, the Central Bank of Nigeria” has observed the continued distortions in the retail end of the market.
“To this end, the CBN has approved the sale of FX to eligible Bureau de Change to meet the demand for invisible transactions. The sum of $20,000 is to be sold to each BDC at the rate of N1,450 (representing the lower band of the trading rate at NAFEM in the previous trading day).”
It warned the BDCs to sell to eligible end-users at a margin not more than 1.5 per cent above the purchase rate from CBN.
The dollar, which traded as low as 1,640/$, settled at 1,570/$ at the parallel market, having closed Wednesday’s trading at 1,565/$.