The Naira pared some its
previous day’s loss on the interbank forex market as it appreciated to N314.75
to the dollar on Thursday, stronger than the N317 to the dollar it closed on
Wednesday.
The positive momentum
displayed by the nation’s currency was attributed to an intervention by the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which sold dollars to boost liquidity and help
the naira to strengthen against the greenback.
The central bank asked some
traders to bid for $1.5 million each, Reuters reported, adding that the Bank
had been selling hard currency since this week.
A total of $6.27 million
traded on Thursday.
However, on the parallel
market, the naira climbed marginally to N395 to the dollar, up from the N394 to
the dollar it closed the previous day.
The central bank had
intervened in the interbank forex market on Tuesday to help support the naira
after it hit an all-time low of N350 to the dollar in thin volume on that day.
The naira has been under
pressure since the central bank floated the currency in June to allow it trade
freely on the interbank market. The currency has been hit by a plunge in oil
prices, Nigeria’s economic mainstay, which caused foreign investors to flee
bond and equities markets.
The central bank last month
told international money transfer operators to pay dollar proceeds from
customer transfers into local commercial banks in naira, while selling the
dollars themselves to bureaux de change (BDC) outlets.
On Tuesday the bank pegged
the dollar transactions which banks can carry out with BDCs at $30,000 per week
and set a margin for the banks to sell dollar to currency outlets at not more
than 1.5 per cent over the rate at which they bought.
It hopes the move will help
narrow the gulf between the official and black market rates and boost dollar
liquidity, traders say.
The central bank set a
margin of two percent over the rate at which BDCs sourced dollars from banks as
resale premium to customers and pegged BDC disbursement at $5,000 per
transaction to cover travel allowance, medical bills and school fees.
Meanwhile, the CBN yesterday
advised interested International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) to apply for
licence.
The central bank in a
statement last night said it came to its notice that, in spite of its
transparency in the licensing of IMTOs in Nigeria, some persons have continued
to allege that the Bank has stopped the licensing of interested IMTOs in the
country.
“The CBN wishes to state,
unequivocally, that it has not foreclosed the licensing of interested players
in the IMTO space in Nigeria. Therefore, interested applicants are required to
forward their requests for licensing to the Director, Trade and Exchange
Department of the CBN, in line with the CBN Guidelines on International Money
Transfer Services in Nigeria (2014), which among other things, specifies the
minimum technical and business requirements for various participants in the
international money transfer services industry in Nigeria. The aforementioned
guidelines can be downloaded from the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria,
it added, saying it remains committed to providing an enabling environment for
international money transfer services in Nigeria.
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