Naira has continue to slide unabated against the dollar with Yesterday's exchange of N370 to a dollar, compared to N320 at the close of the parallel market last Friday.
The foreign exchange reserves have also fallen to $27.81 billion from $28.95 billion in barely six weeks, representing a decline of $1.14 billion. The Director of Corporate Communications, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Alhaji Ibrahim Mu’azu, said the reserves would have decreased to about $20 billion, but for measures adopted.
President Muhammadu Buhari, while in London, said that his government decided to stop the sale of foreign exchange to bureau de change operators because of fraudulent acts perpetrated by some top officers of the CBN. According to him, some directors of CBN own bureau de change and when foreign exchange comes, they take it to their companies and give government the change.
But the Acting President of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, told The Guardian that there is high-level leakages in the system, causing the pressure, adding that devaluation is not totally the answer.
He said government should put mechanism in place to ensure that whatever item everyone demands the dollar for, is actually imported and that quantity declared, alleging that some importers are also involved in the round-tripping.
Mu’azu insisted that the renewed pressure in the market could be attributable to announcement effect and CBN is very much aware of the market development and has been responding accordingly, raising hope that as much as foreign exchange earnings improve, market interventions would also increase.
- Rexinews
- Guardian
No comments:
Post a Comment