Yemisi Izuora
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, says that it neither allocates foreign exchange nor does it deal directly with bank customers, under its forex policy.
The clarification is coming on the heels of media reports alleging irregularities in the rates at which foreign exchange was obtained by some individuals and companies from different Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) under the new [60:40] Foreign Exchange Policy by the CBN.
The policy prioritises FOREX sales to manufacturers, agriculture, plant and machinery, critical raw materials, among others, we wish to make the following clarifications:
The bank explained that it does not fix FOREX rates for transactions by individuals or companies, adding that
In line with its principle of transparency, it directs, Deposit Money Banks, DMBs to forward to it evidence of FOREX sale to end users and to advertise same in national dailies;
Since the introduction of the new FOREX Policy in 2016, the bank publishes, monthly, the evidence of sale from DMBs, as received from the banks and without any alteration in the spirit of transparency.
In a statement, CBN said. “We have recently observed, however, that some DMBs forwarded inaccurate data, which were erroneously published and gave a wrong impression of disparate rates;
The DMBs involved in providing inaccurate data have since been issued queries accordingly. Some have returned a response indicating that some of the figures were related to formatting errors, which do not affect the true rates of the affected transactions.
As the constitutionally authorized industry regulator mandated to manage the FOREX market, maintain external reserves and to safeguard the international value of the legal tender currency, we wish to state unequivocally that the CBN has a duty to perform and would not indulge in acts capable of discrediting the FOREX market.
We, therefore, wish to reiterate that the sale of FOREX under the new policy is most transparent and it is not intended to benefit any individual or corporate body in any way.
While we appreciate the concerns of stakeholders, we urge all concerned to verify information on matters relating to the Bank and use our available channels to lodge their complaints”.