By Obinna Chima
The sell rate of the dollar also improved yesterday to close N430/$, as against the N460/$ at which it closed on Thursday as speculators are wary of buying dollars at higher rate, as many have already lost millions of naira.
Yesterday, the Central bank pumped more dollars into the market with each BDC getting $8,000. The apex bank has pledged to sustain the supply.
THISDAY investigation revealed that many of the parallel market operators are trying to slow down the fall of the dollar to mitigate the heavy losses they are currently suffering.
Speaking on the new FX actions, the Chief Executive Officer, BIC Consultancy Services, Dr. Boniface Chizea, pointed out that the reduction of the wide gap between the official interbank window and the parallel market rate was the major reason for the recent changes to the approach to the determination of the exchange rates.
“And if the recent steps did not breach the gap between the official and parallel market we must then consider this experiment a grand failure. But really it is logical that if you remove a large junk of demand from the parallel market as the recent measures are bound to guarantee that the rates would inevitably appreciate.
“One thing you could say about the parallel market rates is that the rates are very responsive to the movement in demand and supply situ- ations. One thing which the monetary authorities must guard against to ensure success is diversion and no round tripping must be countenanced in this respect. Otherwise the full benefits of the recent measures would not be realised,” Chizea added.
On his part, the CEO, Global Analytics Consulting Limited, Mr. Tope Fasua, faulted criticism of what some had described as the frequent changes to the country’s FX rules, saying that “the role of a central bank is to tinker with policies.”
He commended the central bank for what he termed as its dynamism, saying: “Nobody has a singular policy and then goes to sleep. This economy is not a developed economy. Even the developed economies, they tinker with monetary policies. But I think Nigerians should put themselves in the shoes of these policy makers. I am not saying that they get it all the time. A good central bank must be dynamic and that is what we have been seeing.
“You can’t leave FX sup- ply in the hands of BDCs. What they have just done by allowing the banks to open retail outlets in airports is the best because they (CBN) would be dealing with banks that they can control. No matter what some people feel about the central bank, I personally think they are on the right track. If we look at the accretion to the external reserves, you will see that some of their policies are actually having effects. When people need little amount of FX for school fees and PTA, they should be able to get it without hassle and that is what the CBN has done.”