$3.1bn sale to Bureau De Change sustained naira stability – ABCON

The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria has said that the 163 per cent increase in dollar sales to bureaux de change, to the tune of $3.1 billion in the first half of the year, helped to sustain exchange rate stability and protected 25,000 jobs in the subsector.

The President, ABCON, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, stated this while speaking on the half-year economic report released by the Central Bank of Nigeria last week.

According to a statement from the association, the report among other things, shows that the CBN dollar sales to the BDCs has a rise by 163 per cent to $3.1 billion in the first half of the year from $1.2bn in the corresponding period of 2017.

It read, “The significant increase in the BDC sales reflected the bank’s policy to increase the supply of foreign exchange to small end-users.”

It recalled that the CBN on May 27, 2018 increased weekly dollar sales to each BDCs by 50 per cent to $60,000 per week from $40,000 per week.

Gwadabe noted that the 163 per cent increase in foreign exchange sales to BDCs was attributed to the success recorded in the investors and exporters window introduced by the CBN and the transparency in the forex market, facilitated by www.naijabdcs.com, the live exchange rate platform introduced by ABCON.

He added that the development enabled the apex bank to empower the BDCs in achieving sustained exchange rate stability, convergence of exchange rates, which by extension discouraged rent seeking and other speculative tendencies in the market.

On the impact of the increased forex sales to BDCs, Gwadabe said, “The overall impact in the economy includes employment generation of over 25,000 in the BDC sub-sector and enhanced investors’ confidence.”

He added that the recent efforts of the association to automate operations of the BDCs would help to consolidate on the gains.

“The ABCON automation drive of the BDCs operations, designed to enhance their visibility and attractiveness, is already giving them an information technological edge in the quest to become direct agents of international money transfer operators,” he said.

Advertisements