In order to improve liquidity in the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed plans to conduct a special intervention in that segment of the forex market this Friday.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) plans to sell $30,000 to each of the 2,544 bureau de change operators on Friday, it was learnt yesterday.
The CBN stated this in a letter titled: “Special Intervention in the Bureau De Change (BDC) Segment of the Foreign Exchange Market,” dated February 3, 2015, that was posted on its website.
The letter addressed to all BDCs and authorised dealers were signed by Director, Trade and Exchange Department, CBN, Olakanmi Gbadamosi.
It stated: “This is to inform all licenced BDC operators that in order to improve the liquidity in the BDC segment of the foreign exchange market, the CBN will be intervening in the market by selling $30,000 to interested BDCs on Friday, February 6.
“This is in addition to the weekly sales to the operators. Interested BDC operators are therefore advised to fund their accounts on or before Wednesday February 4, 2015 to accommodate the proposed intervention of Friday.”
The central bank had last month increased the weekly supply of dollars to the BDC operators from $15,000 per BDC, to $30,000 per BDC.
The $76.32 million is an addition to the weekly sales to the operators. The move, the apex bank said, is aimed at increasing dollar liquidity in the system and freeing the naira from pressure.
A dollar was selling at N209 in the parallel market operated by bureau de change agents on Tuesday. The interbank market rate hit N190.08 on thin trades.
The bank is trying to narrow the gap at which the naira, hard hit by the drop in oil prices, trades on the interbank market through its regular interventions and is also trying to curb speculation.
Interested BDC operators are to fund their accounts latest today (Wednesday) to accommodate the special intervention.