A circular that authorized the selling of foreign currency to Bureau De Change operators in the nation has been characterized as fraudulent by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The circular dated Tuesday, 10 December, claimed that the apex bank sold $20,000 to each legible BDC operator at a N1,300 per dollar rate.
“Following the ongoing reforms in the foreign exchange market, aimed at achieving an appropriate market-determined exchange rate for the Naira, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has observed the continued price distortions at the retail end of the market, which is feeding into the parallel market and further widening the exchange rate premium,” the fake circular reads.
However, CBN, in its official X account on Wednesday, described the circular as fake.
This comes as the naira has firmed up in the past seven days against the dollar at the FX market after CBN introduced the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) for transparent FX transactions.
Although in the past two days, the naira had weakened at the black market to N1660 per dollar, the country’s currency gained against the dollar on Tuesday at the official market to close at N1,525.
DAILY POST reports that the last time CBN intervened in the black market was in September 2024, when it sold FX at N1590 per dollar to BDC operators.
Written By Ogaga Ariemu