MONDAYBUSINESS As naira slides to 400/$, BDC directors meet to narrow gap

Directors of over 3,000 Bureaux De Change (BDCs) will be meeting today- April 10, in Lagos, to take strategic decisions on ways to force down dollar rates and narrow the gaps between official and parallel market rates.

The emergency meeting became exigent following last week’s sudden depreciation of the naira against dollar, which the operators said is against the interest of their operations and economy.

The naira closed last Friday at N395 to dollar in the parallel market, after stabilizing at N380 to dollar the previous week.

President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) Aminu Gwadabe, said the meeting with theme: Role of BDCs in Price Stability- Realities and Compliance will be used to warn erring BDC directors on the consequence of violating operating guidelines.

He said the BDCs will continue to support Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) exchange rate stability objective and also ensure that official and parallel market rate convergence is achieved.

“We want BDC Directors to know the gains of price stability, rate harmonisation and regulatory compliance. Operators with infractions will face penalties. We did it in 2006 when the BDC window was first opened. We helped the CBN to narrow the huge gap between official and parallel market rates. We are ready to do it again,” he said.