CBN, ABCON in alliance as naira ends year on high note

The strategic partnership between the Central Bank of Nigeria and Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria on foreign exchange supplies and sustenance of market integrity helped naira stability last year.

The President, ABCON, Aminu Gwadabe, who disclosed this in a statement on Monday said both the apex bank and ABCON worked together in the course of the year to achieve exchange rate stability, which was one of the agenda set by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, at the beginning of his tenure.

Gwadabe said the partnership between both institutions would continue in the New Year to make naira sovereign in the forex market.

He said, “The strategic partnership between the Central Bank and ABCON continued to make the naira sovereign in the foreign exchange market. The opening market rate N360/361 to dollar on the two-way quote has been stable. This sustained stability made the Bureaux De Change to continue to be the potent monetary policy tool of CBN exchange rate managements”.

According to the ABCON boss, the market distortions by forex speculators, rent seekers, currency hoarders and frivolous demand that usually endangered naira stability had been successfully checkmated. He said it was no longer profitable to attack naira in the market.

The statement said the foreign exchange rates collected across  different markets and released by ABCON showed that last year’s closing rates in Lagos where buying/selling rates for dollar stood at N358/359.5; Pounds Sterling, N452/N457 and Euro N404/N409.5 respectively.

In Port Harcourt, dollar buying/selling rates closed the year at N359/361; Pounds Sterling, N457/N464 and Euro N405/N408 respectively.

In Abuja, dollar buying/selling rates closed last year at N359/360; Pounds Sterling, N464/N467 and Euro N407/N410 respectively. In Kano, dollar buying/selling rates for last year were at N359/360; Pounds Sterling, N465/N472and Euro N407/N411 respectively.

Gwadabe said that ABCON last year created Naijabdcs.com, a live rate engine room,to provide uniform rate for all BDCs across the country.

The Naijabdcs App displays live exchange rates for different currencies against the naira.

He stated, “It was created by ABCON to bring about price discovery and transparency in the foreign exchange market. The portal has the support of the CBN, commercial banks, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, Travelex, over 4,000 BDC operators among others.”

He said the App could be downloaded from the Google Play Store adding that being on the Google Play puts Niajabdcs.com in front of people using billions of active Android devices, in more than 190 countries and territories around the world.

Gwadabe said the local currency stability had also been achieved in the official market, where the exchange rate closed the year at N307 to dollar despite huge campaign spendings by political parties.