CBN, ABCON partner 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.