The determination of the Central Bank to bring back Bureau De Change Operators into the forex market by Monday(Sept.7th, 2020) in order to stem the unceasing slide of the Naira and achieve a parallel price with the black market may still not be the end to the problems bedeviling the currency in the market.
Just a few days to the day, Bureau De Change Operators are already grumbling about the meagre profit margin after sales as allowed by CBN.
The Association of Bureau De Change Operators (ABCON) are complaining that small interest margin may be the major challenge of foreign exchange traders.
The CBN is set to sell dollars to the BDCs at a fixed rate of N384 to the dollar and they are expected to sell to the customers at N386 to the dollar.
This challenge was revealed by the President of ABCON, Aminu Gwadabe, at an ABCON organized zoom webinar with the topic, ‘’Resumption of Foreign Currency Sales to BDCs, Covid-19, Challenges, Compliance and Way Forward,” yesterday(September 2, 2020).
The BDC operators said that the profit margin of just N2 was too small and would not be enough to cover their expenses.
At the webinar, Gwadebe said, “The challenge that we are facing is the smaller margin. Right now, the parallel market is doing about N430 and our pegged rate is N386 to the dollar. So, we still see a gap between the advised exchange rate of N386 by the CBN and what is obtainable presently in the market.’’
He pleaded with the CBN to look into their challenge and review the directive.
Gwadebe also urged the apex bank to allow for the use of virtual documentation, which he said would help in containing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. He admitted that the challenge of Covid-19 was still there and so he asked them to put a clause on the use of virtual identification of documents.
This would mean that the BDC operators would not need to see their customers’ physical passports.
