Currency speculators, hoarders will record huge losses — ABCON

THERE are strong indications that currency speculators and those hoarding the United States dollars are going to record huge loses this week.

This development is largely as a result of the sustained intervention in the interbank market and granting of more dollar access window to Bureaux De Changes (BDC) and the International Money Transfer Operators (IMTSO) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Acting President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) Aminu Gwadabe, who disclosed this to Tribune Online on Monday, said the local currency have gained strength from N455/$ to N435/$ at the close of business yesterday, even as he predicts further naira appreciation to N415/$.

His words: “The week ahead is going to be a week of doom for speculators and hoarders. My expectation is that if both current volumes being allocated and applicable exchange rates are review for the BDCs subsector, the naira should be trading at N415/$.”

According to the ABCON’s acting president, developments in the market have completely reduced or eliminated frivolous demand in the market which hitherto has been one of the major reasons for the weakness of the local currency.

Meanwhile, there have been high expectations among BDC operators that the CBN will raise their weekly dollar supplies from $8,000 to $15,000.

A summary of the CBN intervention in the interbank market over the past two months shows the highest bid rate was N360 per dollar, while the lowest was N315 per dollar.

This is even as the CBN has pumped $1.370billion for both wholesale and retail interventions into the interbank forex market since it announced the latest forex policy measures about three weeks ago.