The naira continued its slide against the dollar at the parallel market on Wednesday selling at N300 to the dollar, even as many bureau de change offices were empty after the Central Bank of Nigeria stopped selling foreign exchanges go them.
The value of the currency had continued to crash shedding 6.5 per cent of its value from N277 to the dollar which it sold last weekend. A BDC staff who spoke with Leadership said she did not go the work as there was nothing happening at the office since the CBN refused to sell dollars to them.
The acting President of the Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) Aminu Gwadabe had noted that the move by the central bank is bound to put almost 12,000 individuals out of job.
Many of the BDC staff are waiting for Friday when their umbrella body will meet to know their fate. According to a BDC operator, “we don’t know yet if the CBN will allow us to buy from banks. We hope to find out at the meeting on Friday.”
BDC operators in Nigeria with the new policy are expected to source for foreign currency on their own but according to Gwadabe are restricted from purchasing foreign currency from banks and exporters as is done in other climes.
Traders at the market said that they were concerned about the depreciating naira exchange rate in the black market. They, however, expressed optimism that the policy might impact positively on the market in the long run.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele announced the new foreign exchange policy at a media briefing in Abuja on Monday. He said that the new policy was to stop “rent seeking activities’’ in the market.
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