The nation’s currency is expected to strengthen further as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) plans to licence more International Money Transfer Operators (IMTO), investigation revealed.
The Apex bank in August licensed 11 IMTOs to operate in Nigeria. This is in furtherance of efforts to liberalise the Foreign Exchange Market, ensure liquidity and make foreign exchange more readily available to low end users.
With the new plan, the foreign exchange market is expecting to have about 30 IMTOs operating in the country.
BusinessDay gathered that the CBN has directed First Bank of Nigeria limited to concentrate its dollar sales to Bureau De Change in other zones aside Lagos. This is to ensure that a good number of BDCs have access to foreign exchange thereby reduce pressure on Trevelex, a global currency dealer.
“with the licencing of more IMTOs and the CBN’s direction on dollar sales, there will be more liquidity in the system, confidence will improve and naira will appreciate further”, Aminu Gwadabe, acting president, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) told BusinessDay on phone.
Consequently, naira yesterday remained stable at the BDC segment of the foreign exchange market and the parallel market, closing at N454 and N455 respectively against the US dollar. It lost slightly by 0.08 percent to close at N305.00k at the inter-bank spot market.
Gwadabe disclosed that about 1140 BDCs purchased dollar from Travelex last week. He explained that Travelex could not sell to BDCs outside Lagos because of issues relating to information technology infrastructure and offices.