In its third quarter economic review, the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has called for measures to curb the continued depreciation of the naira.
ABCON said the recent developments in the foreign exchange market have proved that the suspension of dollar sales to BDCs was not the solution to the continued depreciation of the naira in the parallel market.
It said that the continued depreciation of the naira has also proven that BDCs are indispensable in Nigeria’s context of foreign exchange market.
To address the continued depreciation of the naira in the parallel market, ABCON called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to restructure the BDC’s sub-sector.
It also called on the CBN to resume dollar sales to the public through BDCs especially in view of the failure of the intervention through Deposit Money Banks to bridge the gap between the official and parallel market exchange rate.
“Industrialists have reported increased scarcity of foreign exchange in the system since the stoppage of intervention to BDCs which is an indication that, irrespective of the anomaly observed in the operations of BDCs, part of the allocation to the sub sector flows into the real sector.
Thus, it is logical to consider restructuring BDC operations to weed out the dysfunctional units and operators bringing out the real outfits for operational efficiency.These can be achieved through the design of a dynamic operational modalities of standard practices.