News
The naira yesterday
recorded its biggest daily appreciation of N6 against the dollar in the
Investors & Exporters (I&E) window, with the exchange rate falling to
N359 per dollar.
The naira also appreciated
by N1 in the parallel due to weak demand for dollars. Vanguard survey revealed that the parallel
market exchange rate dropped from N366 per dollar last week Friday to N365 at
the close of business yesterday.
Data from the Financial
Market Dealers Quote (FMDQ) for transactions in the I &E window, also known
as the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), showed that the
indicative exchange rate for the window dropped to N359 per dollar at the close
of trading from N366.44 per dollar last Friday.
The data also indicated
that $86 million was traded yesterday. A survey of markets in the Bureau de
Change segment (BDCs) in Abuja, showed that the naira exchanged at an average
of N360 to a dollar in the BDC segment of the market.
The acting Director,
Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor in a statement on Monday in Abuja
said that 100 million dollars was offered to authorised dealers in the
wholesale window.
Similarly the Small and
Medium Enterprises (SMEs) window was allocated the sum of 50 million dollars.
Also, those seeking forex
for the purpose of business and personal travel, tuition and medical bills,
among other invisibles, received the sum of 45 million dollars.
Okorafor said that the
Bank’s continued intervention was aimed at strengthening the international
value of the Naira, while ensuring accessibility to the greenback by customers
who required it for genuine purposes.
It will be recalled that
the CBN in the last round of forex intervention in the inter-bank market on
June 28, injected 195 million dollars to the wholesale, SMEs and invisibles
segments of the market.
In the meantime, several
Bureau De Change (BDC) operators are accusing Travelex Nigeria of delaying cash
refund from failed foreign (forex) exchange bids.
The BDCs insist that
refunds from unsuccessful bids, which should come between 24 and 48 hours, take
two or more weeks, with the affected BDC operators staying out of business.
Such practice, financial
pundits said, may be hurting efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to
deepen dollar supply and strengthen the naira against the dollar.
Travelex, a global forex
dealer was authorised by the CBN to directly disburse forex to BDC operators who
have fully completed documentations and provided adequate funding to Travelex
Nigeria for their (BDCs) weekly dollar purchases.
The CBN had approved
$40,000 (N15 million) weekly per BDC to deepen dollar liquidity, sustain
operators’ businesses and achieve naira stability. The funds come in
two-tranches of $20,000 and can only be accessed by operators with successful
bids, and have met full regulatory requirements.
“When BDCs pay through
their banks pay to Travelex and the bids are not successful because of
incomplete documentation or any other issue, the funds coming back remain a
herculean tax. Many of us just keep waiting endlessly to get the funds back and
that is affecting our operations and hurting the expected impact on the
economy,” an operator who asked not to be named said.
Speaking further, the
source said that in many occasions, Travelex claimed that the funds have been
refunded to the beneficiaries’ accounts, but the refunds were still not
received.
Confirming the
development, President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria
(ABCON) Aminu Gwadabe, said the delay in refunding such cash remains a serious
challenge to many BDCs, especially with many operators not having extra cash to
go for fresh bids.
He said many operators affected
by the refund crisis always wait for the cash to come, which normally takes
time, and at the detriment of their business.
He said that Travelex
Nigeria has identified the problem, and promised to work with its bank to
develop a technology that will enable it identify and refund unsuccessful bid
cash immediately.
But when contacted,
General Manager, Travelex Nigeria, Anthony Enwereji, said many of the BDCs do
not make their payments through the right channel. He said some operators pay
through Automated Teller Machines, some pay through their wives accounts,
making reconciliation difficult.
He said the CBN had
investigated some of the BDCs complaints against his company, and found out
that Travelex Nigeria was not liable.
Enwereji said there were
three parties to the BDCs transactions- the BDCs’ banks, the Nigeria Interbank
Settlement System (NIBSS) and the beneficiary account. He insisted that it was
wrong to blame Travelex Nigeria for the problem.
He said his company was working
on technology-driven reconciliation to ensure that the problems were solved
speedily. He said his company had been processing over 1,600 bids from BDCs
twice weekly, and had done its best to provide them quality services.
Travelex is the world’s
largest foreign exchange bureau specialized in international payments, bureaux
de change and issuing prepaid credit cards for use by travelers. In 2000, it
bought Thomas Cook’s worldwide forex business for 440 million Pounds Sterling,
which significantly expanded its international operations.
Credit: Maritimefirstnewspaper
with additional report from The Nation and Vanguard
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