CBN stops FOREX allocation to Bureau De Change operators

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it would no longer allocate foreign exchange to operators of bureau de change.

CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, announced Tuesday that the apex bank had suspended further processing of BDCs application for FOREX henceforth, as well as stopped additional licensing of operators.

Emefiele said the bureau de change operators had abandoned their primary duties to engage in illicit transactions among other failings.

All FOREX allocations are now to be conducted by the deposit money banks, the governor said.

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The CBN also resolved to retain Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), otherwise known as interest rate at 11.5 per cent.

Emefiele, after a two-day monthly Monetary Policy Committee meeting, said the committee also resolved to maintain the asymmetric corridor of +100/-700 basis points around the MPR.

The apex bank also left the Cash Reserve Ratio at 27.5 per cent and Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent.

The MPR is the rate at which the CBN lends to commercial banks and often determines the cost of borrowing in the economy.

Details later…