ABCON Seeks CBN Support to Boost Market Transparency
Ugo Aliogo
The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has called for the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enhance the operations of its live exchange rate website.
This, according to the currency deales, would go a long way in improving transparency and stability in the nation’s foreign exchange market.
The Association made this call in its Economic Review for the third quarter (Q3’18) released last week, noting that the daily publication of exchange rate on its naijabdcs.com platform played a huge role in the marginal appreciation of the naira in the bureau de change sub-sector in the third quarter of 2018.
The report stated: “During the quarter, the CBN sustained its weekly dollar sale of $60,000 per BDC. This coupled with the transparency in the BDC subsector due to live exchange rate publication on ABCON’s exchange rate platform -www.naijabdcs.com, helped to ensure appreciation of the naira in the BDC segment and relative stability of the naira in the general economy.
“According to the ABCON’s www.naijabdcs.com, the naira appreciated by 50 kobo to N359.5 per dollar in the BDC segment in Q3’18 from N360 per dollar in Q2’18.
“But the naira depreciated by N2.6 in the Investors and Exchange (I&E) and by 63 kobo in the interbank foreign exchange market. In the I&E, the indicative exchange rate rose to N363.92 per dollar in Q3’18 from N321.32 per dollar in Q2’18.”
To sustain the appreciation of the naira achieved in the BDC segment, ABCON called continued promotion of transparency through more operational disclosure
“The sub sectors will grow faster with the continued promotion of transparency through more operational disclosure. Confidence by multinationals and general public will be enhanced and regulatory functions will be efficient.
“Speculations and currency hoarding should be discouraged with the current exchange rate movements and volatile economic stance. Marginal gains and increase in foreign cash inflows through more organised marketing will be a good strategy for the current situation,” the association stated.
