The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria has warned its members and forex speculators putting pressure on the naira to stop the practice or risk losing their money.
This came as the dollar was on Wednesday exchanged for N461 on the parallel market.
There are, however, indications of an improvement once dollar sale to the BDCs commences.
President, ABCON, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said on Wednesday in Lagos that the Central Bank of Nigeria-licenced Bureaux De Change would soon start full operations as the apex bank was set to reopen dollar sales to operators.
According to him, with the CBN’s planned lifting of suspension on dollar sales to the BDCs, reopening of the airports for air travels and global ease on restriction of movements, there are indications that dollar flow to the economy will soon improve.
Gwadabe stated, “The return of over 5,000 BDCs to the forex market will add great strength to the naira and lead to major capital losses for forex speculators.
“It happened in 2016 and will happen again in 2020. The return of the BDCs will immediately boost naira recovery and put the enemies of the economy to shame.”
Gwadabe said the return of BDCs to the forex market would help chase away speculators, curb rising inflation, boost productivity and employment.
The ABCON boss said the uptick in activities in the Chinese economy had raised the country’s crude oil demand which would impact positively on Nigeria’s crude oil sales to the Asian country and boost dollar earnings.
Gwadabe added that the CBN had created enhanced fiscal buffers with the $3.4bn International Monetary Fund loan under the Rapid Financing Instrument meant for Nigeria to meet its urgent balance of payment stemming from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the loan, which had been disbursed, would also boost Nigeria’s dollar reserves and financing to the budget for targeted and temporary spending increases.
