Forex: Black market operators demand access to Diaspora remittances

The President of the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Aminu Gwadabe, said on Monday the black market was in comatose due to the forex restriction placed on them by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The apex bank last year stopped the foreign exchange intervention in the black market over alleged fraudulent transactions.

The intervention was meant to complement the BDC operation with the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEX), which is the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window officially recognised by CBN for forex trading.

In a statement issued in Lagos, Gwadabe urged the apex bank to grant them access to NAFEX in a bid to obtain Diaspora remittances and increase the black market’s forex liquidity.

Reports had said N1 trillion annual transaction volume and other capital investments in the BDC are at risk over the forex ban.

READ ALSO: Naira’s free-fall continues as demand for forex jumps

He said: “ABCON understands the challenges faced by the apex bank due to the dwindling foreign reserves, declining oil output and oil theft, COVID-19-induced economic pains, fiscal policy challenges, debt burden, and election spending, which are making it difficult for the CBN to sustain weekly dollar interventions to BDCs

“We support any measures that would lead to compliance with Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), supporting CBN’s exchange rate stability policies and security agencies to punish any BDC operator breaching corporate governance and compliance guidelines.

“It is our sincere belief that the BDCs need to be integrated back officially to ensure their continuous potent role in exchange rate stability management.”

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