The naira tumbled against the dollar
from 222 on Wednesday to 225 on Thursday, barely 36 hours after the
Central Bank of Nigeria banned importers of rice, textiles, tomato paste
and 38 other items from getting their forex needs from the nation’s
forex market.
The
regulator had said the new rule would help preserve the external
reserves, facilitate the resuscitation of domestic industries and
generate employment opportunities.
But the ban, which economists said would
see about $5.7bn quarterly forex demand by importers of the items move
from the official to the parallel market, is already fuelling scarcity
of dollar at the black market and the Bureau De Change segment of the
forex market.
The Acting President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators, Alhaji
Aminu Gwadabe, said the dollar sold for between 224 and 225 on the
street market because many of the operators were hoarding their stock of
forex in anticipation of further rise in prices against the naira
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