CBN cuts forex allocation to BDCs Naira may hit 300 a dollar by Jan

FRC: ‘We recovered N367bn from MDAs’

The scarcity of foreign exchange (forex) may shoot the value of a dollar to about N300 before the end of the year, Daily Trust has learnt.

Yesterday, the naira was exchanged at 270 to a dollar in Lagos and around 265 in Abuja and Kano at the black market. The traders attributed the sharp drop in the value of naira to the scarcity of forex.

The Central Bank of Nigeria which serves as the only source of forex to the parallel market yesterday released $25.8 million to about 2,578 BDCs, equivalent to $10,000 per Bureau de Change operator.

Traders said it was the first time this year that the CBN is slashing the weekly allocation to $10,000 per BDC.

A trader, Mohammed Abubakar said yesterday’s allocation may be the last until next year January.

According to him, only God knows how much the dollar will cost before the allocation resumes next year.

Another trader, Isma’ila Bashir, in Abuja said now that the CBN weekly allocation remains the only source of cash forex , the price at the black market will be highly influenced by the weekly allocations.

“The demand is too high at the market and there is no forex anywhere in the country except from the CBN. And this is the time people need forex to import all sorts of goods.”

Already, there is anxiety in the BDCs segment of the market, due to the speculation that the CBN is considering stopping the allocation to them (BDCs) due to shortage of forex in the country.

With the price of oil at $37 a barrel, the amount of forex inflow into the country has dropped by about 70 per cent compared to the same period last year when oil was above $100 a barrel.

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele recently said in Abuja that Nigeria remains the only country in the world that is selling forex to BDCs, adding that the activities of the black market operators among them is hurting the economy negatively. The Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) has revealed that it forced Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to remit N367 billion operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund as at last August.

Speaking at the presentation of the Fiscal Responsibility Index yesterday in Abuja, the chairman of the commission, Barrister Victor Muruako, revealed that the remittance was as a result of the battle it has engaged with MDAs over operating surplus since 2009 when it began its operation.

“The reality of our present economic situation has made it imperative that every other revenue generating agency of government is brought into legal obligation to remit its operating surpluses to the Consolidated Revenue Fund beyond those listed in the schedule to the Act so as to shove up the government’s revenue base,” he said.

Disclosing that the commission had made remittance of operating surplus by MDAs “its battle cry,” Barrister Muruako revealed that the commission had researched and developed a new template for determining operating surplus for scheduled corporations.

“There has been a renewed call for government agencies not to shirk their responsibility in remittance of their operating surplus. That is as it should be,” he said.