Naira hits 255 against dollar at black market

Naira hits 255 against dollar at black market
By Hamisu Muhammad | Publish Date: Dec 10 2015 11:52PM | Updated Date: Dec 10 2015 11:

Naira hits 255 against dollar at black market

Dollar yesterday hit another record against Naira as it was exchanged at 255 at the black market due to the scarcity of foreign exchange in the market, traders said.
 In Lagos the traders exchanged the naira at 255 to a dollar while in Abuja some traders exchanged it at 256 for the first time in history.
 Some traders when contacted blamed the reoccurring slid of the local currency to the tightness of the forex sources by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
 On Wednesday, only 1,117 registered Bureau De Change operators accessed dollar from the weekly auction from the Central bank of Nigeria out of about 2,900 registered companies.
 But the local currency maintains its value at the interbank rate at 196.9 at the interbank market rate as at yesterday.
 The traders question the procedure followed by the CB to issue the forex to them as some of them claimed to meet all the needed requirements but their names were not on the list of successful dibbers.
“I met the entire requirements stated by the CBN and the name of our company was not in the lists.” A BDC operator who wants to remain anonymous told Daily Trust.
 Last week, only 1,211 BDCs operators accessed the forex, the situation that triggered the price at the black market to hit 251 for a dollar for the first time.
 When contacted the CBN Director of Communications Ibrahim Mua’zu said the criteria for accessing the forex from the CBN has not change d but due to the introduction of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) majority of the BDCs are finding it difficult to meet the requirements.
 According to him, ‘‘all we need from them (BDC) is to submit their return on time, submit correct record of all the customers they deal with in the previous transactions once these are okey, you will be entitled to access the forex in the next bidding.
‘‘But what happened usually most of the operators submitted incorrect record of their customers and some of them don’t submit any thing and surely they will be out for the week”.