The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has granted eligible bureau de change (BDC) operators temporary access to the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) to purchase $25,000 weekly from December 19 to January 30.

 

In a statement on Thursday, signed by T.G. Allu, CBN acting director of trade and exchange department, the apex bank said BDCs will purchase foreign exchange (FX) from authorised dealers to meet retail market demand.

 

Authorised dealers are banks licenced by the CBN to deal in foreign exchange.

 

“In order to meet expected seasonal demand for foreign exchange, the CBN is allowing a temporary access for all existing BDCs to the NFEM for the purchase of FX from Authorised Dealers, subject to a weekly cap of USD 25,000.00 (Twenty-five thousand dollars only). This window will be open between December 19, 2024 to January 30, 2025,” CBN said.

 

“BDC operators can purchase FX under this arrangement from only one Authorized Dealer of their choice and will be required to fully fund their account before accessing the market at the prevailing NFEM rate.

 

“All transactions with BDCs should be reported to the Trade and Exchange department, and a maximum spread of 1% is allowed on the pricing offered by BDCs to retail end-users.”

 

CBN also said the personal travel allowance ( PTA) and business travel allowance (BTA) remain available and can be accessed from their banks to meet travel requirements.

 

“All legitimate and eligible foreign exchange transactions are expected to be completed in the NFEM, at the market determined exchange rate,” the apex bank added.

 

“The CBN remains committed to a fully functional foreign exchange market and will continue to provide liquidity when necessary to manage price volatility.”

 

On September 25, CBN approved the sale of foreign exchange (FX) to eligible BDC operators at N1,590 per dollar to meet the demand for invisible transactions.