By Tanko Mohammed
Former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Muhammad Sanusi, has advised the nation to pump money into Bureau De Change (BDC) as a strategy to protect the Naira.
The former Emir of Kano said that BDC was an important segment of the foreign exchange and should be protected in order to bridge the gaps between official and parallel market rates of the naira.
The apex bank in March suspended dollar sales to BDCs, but the policy has not affected dollar transactions in the Investors & Exporters (I&E) forex window.
Sanusi, who spoke in a live webinar organised by AZA, a cross-border payments platforms and forex trading firm, on the theme: United States of Naira: What Price for Unification?.
He said there has been huge gaps between the official rate, the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Rate Fixing (NAFEX) and the BDC rates since 2016.
“I think what the bank is trying to do is bridge that gap and I think moves have been made in general in July that have brought the CBN rate and the NAFEX rates closer. But, the BDC rates remain an outlier. It is a small percentage of the market, but it does have an impact on speculation, which is why it is important to fund that market.”
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