Reports say the Nigerian naira is expected to make a surprise recovery as Travelex, a global foreign exchange (forex) dealer, begins the sale of $15,000 weekly to each of the 3,000 Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators.
President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Aminu Gwadabe said $45 million will flow into the financial system with each of the BDCs getting $15,000.
“The exercise would strengthen the naira in both the official and parallel markets.” Gwadabe said.
The Naira was yesterday exchanging at N473 to dollar in the parallel market and N310 to dollar in the official market. The naira has lost over 70 per cent of its value in both markets year-to-date due to plunge in crude oil prices which cut the country’s greenback earnings.
The ABCON Boss explained that the funds to be disbursed to BDCs were from the Diaspora remittances estimated at $21 billion annually.
“The CBN took the right steps by authorising Travelex to take responsibility of disbursing the Diaspora to licensed BDCs.” He said.
According to him, the $15,000 weekly dollar sales, an improvement from the initially approved $10,000 weekly, would deepen dollar liquidity in the system and strengthen the naira against the greenback.