Nigeria’s currency Naira has crashed to its lowest level ever since the foreign exchange policy, trading at N412/$1 at parallel market on Friday, August 26.
The banks were barred for hiding over $2.12 billion belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and failed to remit the funds into the Treasury Single Account, a claim some of them have denied. The affected banks include; United Bank for Africa (UBA), Sterling Bank Plc, Sky Bank Plc, Keystone Bank, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Heritage Bank, Fidelity Bank, Diamond Bank, First Bank.
CBN’s decision to bar the banks is coming two months after it released the highlights of the much awaited flexible foreign exchange market policy. The highlights, which are key notes and agreements reached by the apex bank were released weeks after the Monetary Policy Committee announced the introduction of the policy.
The fall of the naira is coming shortly after the suspension of nine banks from the foreign exchange market, hence, making the greenback more difficult to get. According to Reuters on account of local traders, some Bureau de change operators have been finding it difficult to access their forex account and get dollar supply after the central bank suspended nine commercial lenders from the market, putting further pressure on the local currency.
The banks were barred for hiding over $2.12 billion belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and failed to remit the funds into the Treasury Single Account, a claim some of them have denied. The affected banks include; United Bank for Africa (UBA), Sterling Bank Plc, Sky Bank Plc, Keystone Bank, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Heritage Bank, Fidelity Bank, Diamond Bank, First Bank.
CBN’s decision to bar the banks is coming two months after it released the highlights of the much awaited flexible foreign exchange market policy. The highlights, which are key notes and agreements reached by the apex bank were released weeks after the Monetary Policy Committee announced the introduction of the policy.
Reacting to the development, Aminu Gwadabe, president of the Bureau De Change association in Nigeria, said: “The suspension of some banks from transaction in the forex market has really increased pressure on the market.
” The apex bank said all the banks will remain barred from foreign exchange operations until they fully remit the NNPC funds into government coffers via the Treasury Single Account (TSA). On Thursday the naira closed at 409 per dollar on the parallel market.
On the interbank market it traded at 315 compared with 305 the previous day. In 2016, the naira has lost 29.61% of its value on the official market, following the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to allow for a floating foreign exchange regime.
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