Breaking: CBN Directs Commercial Banks To Trade Forex At Any Desired Rates

There are indications that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed commercial banks to trade foreign exchange at any exchange rate in the Investors & Exporters window based on a willing buyer-to-willing seller arrangement.

BrandNewsDay reports that in response to the CBN’s directive, the I&E window exchange rate rose sharply to N610 per dollar at N12:50pm from N471.67 on Tuesday night.

Though the CBN is yet to issue a statement to this effect, two banking executives, however, confirmed to Vanguard that it is true that the CBN has given the directive to the banks.

Recall that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Incumbent CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele over the offence the presidency tagged as ‘misused of office’.

RECOMMENDED: BREAKING: CBN To Stop Sale Of Foreign Exchange To Banks Soon

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has indicated that it would halt the sale of foreign exchange to Deposit Money Banks (DMB) by the end of the year. 

This online platform confirms that the ex-CBN Governor,  Godwin Emefiele, made the disclosure while speaking at the special press briefing at the end of the 364th Bankers Committee meeting on the launch of the bank’s new forex repatriation scheme ‘RT200 FX Programme’ on Thursday, February 10, 2022, at its headquarters in Abuja.

According to theEmefiele, Nigerian banks must begin to source their forex from export proceeds, hence the need to support the non-oil sector of the economy. 

The CBN governor in a statement which reads in part, “The era is coming to an end when, because your customers need 100 million dollars in foreign exchange or 200 million dollars, you now want to pack all the dollars and pass it to CBN to give you dollars.

He further said, “When those export proceeds come, we will fund them at 5% for you and they will earn rebait. Then you can sell those proceeds to your customers that want 100 million dollars. But to say you will continue to come to the Central Bank to give you dollars, we will stop it.