The Central Bank of Nigeria’s prohibition on the public display of black market foreign exchange rates is being challenged by the Association of Bureaux de Change Operators of Nigeria, or ABCON.
This was revealed by ABCON President Aminu Gwadabe in a statement on Tuesday, who attributed the volatility in the foreign exchange market to forex hoarders.
In light of this, he believes that in order to resolve the country’s ongoing foreign exchange crisis, the central bank must examine BDC operations.
This comes after an online BDC called AbokiFX was banned for more than two years.
September 2021 saw the CBN, then led by former governor Godwin Emefiele, crack down on AbokiFX, a website that posts naira exchange rates on the underground market.
Allegations were made against the platform by the apex bank, which stated that it was engaged in “illegal activities that undermine the economy.”
Years later, the currency industry problem persisted, nonetheless.
The naira was selling at an all-time low of N1360/$ in the parallel market at the start of the week beginning Monday, January 22, 2024. This represents a 47% difference from the N925.34 per dollar trading in the official market.
The dollar was quoted at N907.11 on the last trading day of the year, compared to N461.61 at the end of 2022, meaning that at the official market, the naira depreciated by 96.55 percent year over year.
