June 14, (THEWILL) – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the unification of all segments of the Nigerian forex market.
The apex bank, in a statement Wednesday, announced the collapse of all windows into the Investors & Exporters (I&E) window.
This move is part of the Nigerian government’s efforts to improve liquidity and stability in the market and attract foreign investors into the Nigerian economy.
The apex bank stopped the RT200 programme introduced in February 2022, and the naira4dollar remittance scheme effective 30 June.
According to the press statement entitled, ‘Operational Changes to the Foreign Exchange Market’, signed by the Director of Financial Markets, Angela Sere-Ejembi, the bank abolished the segmentation of the FX market into different windows.
“All transactions will now be done through the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, where the exchange rate will be determined by market forces. Applications for medicals, school fees, BTA/PTA, and SMEs would continue to be processed through deposit money banks,” it said.
The local currency lost 40 percent of it value at the I&E AFEX window on Wednesday and weakened significantly against the US dollar as CBN allowed the forex market to to trade ‘freely’ in an effort to reset the nation’s monetary policy..
Banking sources had told THEWILL that the CBN directed banks to remove the cap on the investors’ and exporters’ (I & E) window of the forex market to allow for the free float of the naira exchange rate.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
