The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it is continuing with intervention to sustain dollar availability in the foreign exchange market.
This is as the CBN announced fresh injection of $280 million into various sectors of the market.
CBN has also commenced its weekly $20,000 sale to licensed Bureaux de Change (BDCs) and further announced the opening of bids for offering $100m wholesale 7-45 days forwards through the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).
A statement by CBN spokesman, Isaac Okorafor, on Tuesday gave a breakdown of the intervention indicating that “invisible such as Basic Travel Allowance, Personal Travel Allowance, medical bills and tuition received $80 million, while the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) window received $100 million. Together with the wholesale bid auction, the CBN, on Tuesday, sold $280 million into the market.”
Okorafor disclosed that the new window for SMEs would no doubt boost the business of SMEs through the importation of eligible finished and semi-finished items, thereby boosting FOREX supply to the retail business segment of the market.
“The CBN introduced the use of FORM Q for the SMEs, which requires just basic documentation, to ease their documentation challenges usually encountered by this category of businesses,” he said.
Okorafor reiterated that SMEs are allowed to purchase $20,000 per quarter on this arrangement.”
He restated that the new form, which must be completed by all SME applicants, “requires the applicant to fill the form with a supporting application letter as well as beneficiary invoice and bank wire transfer.”
According to him, eligible applicants must have operated their bank accounts for a minimum of six months.
On the sale of forex to BDCs, the Bank said the decision was taken to ensure that the high volume demand by low-end users are met promptly.
Urging market participants to abide by the rules to ensure the preservation of external reserves, stability of our financial system, and growth of economy to the benefit of all Nigerians, CBN warned that it would neither tolerate unscrupulous actions nor hesitate to bring serious sanctions on offenders, be they banks or their staff.
Comments