Lagos – The Association of Bureau De Change of
Nigeria (ABCON) has appealed to the Central Bank
of Nigeria (CBN) for an increase in weekly sale of
foreign exchange from $15,000 to $50,000.
This is contained in statement made in Lagos on
Sunday.
ABCON also urged the CBN to extend its
occasional intervention in the foreign exchange
market to it to reduce demand pressure at the
retail end of the market.
The association regretted that $15,000 (about
N2.5 million) weekly sale to each Bureau De
Change (BDC) by the CBN was inadequate to
cover operating costs.
CBN set $15,000 as deposit for weekly purchase
of foreign exchange to BDCs, in June 2014.
The BDCs were also compelled to deposit N35
million mandatory caution to CBN. More than
2,000 operators have already complied with it.
The association said: “The difficulties that BDCs
are currently facing are enormous due to the
volume of the weekly sales granted to BDCs as
against the associated costs in the business.
“We are strongly suggesting that the CBN should
consider increasing the weekly sales to BDCs
from $15,000 to $50,000,
“Given the increasing demand of dollars as
against the rigidity of the weekly official sales to
BDCs, we have noted that our members hardly
meet up their demands from end-users.”
It urged the Central Bank to consider a periodic
sale intervention to BDCs as done to banks.
According to the statement, this will help to
achieve exchange rate stability in the event of
increase in demand of dollar and static sale of
$15, 000 to BDCs.
It said that on Sept. 24, the CBN sold a total of
N350 million to banks through the Retail Dutch
Auction System (RDAS).
It also said that the CBN sold N500 million and
N400 million worth of RDAS on Sept. 29 and Oct.
8, respectively to banks, making a total of $1.250
billion within a period of 13 days.
The association also appealed to the apex bank
to reduce the mandatory caution deposit by each
BDC from N35 million to N15 million, to free up
cash for BDCs to meet day-to-day operations.
“After the deadline for the payment of the
increased caution fee of N35 million, we noticed
that some BDCs could not conveniently carry out
their weekly trading due to lack of cash.
“To avoid the possibility of such BDCs closing
shop after their efforts to pay the caution fees,
we are sincerely pleading to the CBN to review
the caution fee.
“This can be from N35 million to N15 million in
order to financially empower BDCs to carry on
with their weekly trading,” it said. (NAN)
No comments: