The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has pegged dollar sale to invisibles such as Basic Travel Allowance (BTAs), medicals and school fees abroad at N360 per dollar.
This is even as the apex bank said yesterday that it has also released the sum of $85 million for onward sale to the retail end-users under the intervention window.
It also offered the sum of $100 million to authorized forex dealers in the interbank wholesale window to meet the requests of genuine wholesale customers in other aspects of the market.
CBN’s acting director in charge of corporate communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, said the rates in the interbank window for wholesale transactions would still be determined by activities in the interbank market.
Okoroafor announced that all banks had also been directed to immediately post the new N360 per dollar rate on electronic display boards in the banking halls of their branches, adding that examiners from the CBN will visit the banks to ensure the new rates are implemented.
He reiterated the apex bank’s directive to all banks to process and meet the demand for travel allowances (PTA/BTA) by end-users within 24 hours of such application, while applications for school fees and medical bills are to be met within 48 hours of such application.
Okorafor warned that the new move, aimed at further easing access of genuine end-users to forex, prohibits banks from selling foreign exchange funds meant for invisibles to Bureau De Change.
Going forward, he said, all banks would receive amounts commensurate with their demand per week, which would be sold to customers who meet usual basic documentary requirements.
He also urged customers to report any erring bank to the CBN for investigation and appropriate sanction.
The dollar has crashed from high of 540 three weeks ago to 377 which is taking a big toll on Bureau de Change operators and other currency speculators.
Analysts have attributed the recent huge crash in the value of the naira to round-tripping in the market.
