IN pursuing its commitment to sustain liquidity in the foreign exchange market, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it will commence twice weekly sale of foreign exchange to licensed Bureaux de Change (BDCs) from next Monday.
In addition, a new foreign exchange rate will be announced on that day.
A statement by the Bank’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor, disclosed that weekly sale amount has been increased to $10, 000 in two tranches of $5,000 each on Mondays and Wednesdays.
BDCs are thus henceforth required to fund their accounts with the CBN on Mondays and Wednesdays while they receive their purchases on Tuesdays and Thursdays, respectively.
According to Okorafor, this strategic move is aimed at ensuring wider spread and liquidity in the market to Deposit Money Banks as well as BDCs.
Meanwhile, the CBN on Thursday, offered the total sum of $100 million to authorized dealers to service forwards request by wholesale customers in the interbank market.
It will be recalled that the CBN, in its resolve to sustain liquidity in the FOREX market, on Monday, offered $100m in wholesale forwards to deposit money banks (DMBs), which was fully taken.
The apex bank had within this week announced that it will henceforth sell US$1 at a fixed exchange rate of N360 to both deposit money banks and BDCs to be sold to customers at N362 to US$1 for invisible items including basic travel allowance (BTA) school fees and medical expenses.
and then