Naira: EFCC raids Abuja BDC hub to stop dollar mop up – Newstrends
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Naira: EFCC raids Abuja BDC hub to stop dollar mop up

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Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) operatives have raided Wuse Zone 4, Abuja, as some Bureaux De Change operators are alleged to be mopping up foreign currencies, especially dollars

Wuse Zone 4 is the hub of many BDC operators in Abuja.

The naira has been on a free fall for weeks now with one dollar selling for N750 on the black market as of Friday. Many speculators are said to be acculating dollars currently and planning to sell at a higher rate later.

An EFCC official said the raid on the BDC centre was carried out on Friday.

TheCable reported that the invasion was a covert operation to “dislodge currency speculators alleged to be massively mopping up available foreign currencies”.

A source had told Channels Television that the raid was a result of weeks of surveillance in which agents of the EFCC have been monitoring the activities of most of the BDC operators in the axis.

The source further said the agency is working on intelligence that some forces with massive naira inflow have mobilised resources and are busy buying up available foreign currencies, especially US dollar, to either hoard or smuggle the same out of Nigeria.

In the last few weeks, the naira has experienced further devaluation, dropping from about N580 to N707 per dollar at the parallel section of the foreign exchange market.

Street traders who spoke to TheCable on Wednesday said the free fall resulted from the lingering foreign exchange (FX) supply constraints.

Last week, Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, warned people, mostly politicians, who use naira to buy dollars for campaigns.

“We monitor liquidity in the system, and as we see that there’s excess liquidity, we will continue to use discretionary powers to move those liquids from the vault of the banks so that they do not get involved or in speculative activities with people who want to speculate with the currency,” Emefiele had said.

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Naira gains further against dollar

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Naira gains further against dollar

The Naira rose further in the official market on Tuesday, trading at N1,382.95 to the dollar.

According to data from the FMDQ’s official trading portal, the Naira rose by N25.09, or 1.78 percent, from the previous day’s rate of N1,408 versus the dollar.

On Tuesday, total turnover was $245.58 million, up from $222.15 million on Monday.

Meanwhile, at the Investor’s and Exporters (I&E) window, the Naira traded between N1,486 and N1,300 against the dollar.

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had, earlier on Tuesday at its 294th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), raised Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 200 basis points from 22.75 per cent to 24.75 per cent.

CBN governor Yemi Cardoso said that was meant to tackle the nation’s rising inflation.

Naira gains further against dollar

(NAN)

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CBN jacks up interest rate amid soaring inflation

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CBN jacks up interest rate amid soaring inflation

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday raised the interest rate from 22.75 per cent to 24.75 per cent amid soaring inflation.

Governor of the central bank, Olayemi Cardoso, made this known after the two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held on Monday and Tuesday.

The country’s latest annual inflation rate jumped to 31.70 per cent from 29.90 per cent for last month, fueled by a continuous rise in food prices.

Cardoso disclosed that the MPC voted to adjust the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +100 to -300 basis points.

He said the committee voted to retain the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 45 per cent for commercial banks and adjust the CRR of merchant banks from 10 per cent to 14 per cent.

The committee also voted to retain the liquidity at 30 per cent.

He said, “Members noted the continued rise in headline inflation driven largely by food prices, because of supply shortages, and high cost of Logistics and Distribution.

“The committee, therefore, was of the view that addressing food insecurity is key to containing current inflationary pressures.”

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Law enforcement agencies investigating $2.4bn unverified forex claims – CBN

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Law enforcement agencies investigating $2.4bn unverified forex claims – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says law enforcement agencies are investigating $2.4 billion unverified foreign exchange claims.
Governor of the CBN Olayemi Cardoso disclosed this while speaking during a press conference on Tuesday after the 294th meeting of the monetary policy committee (MPC) in Abuja.
On February 5, the CBN governor said he inherited a $7 billion FX backlog when he became the head of the apex bank in September 2023.
However, it was discovered that $2.4 billion of the sum was invalid following an inquiry into the transactions.
Subsequently, the CBN said all outstanding FX obligations had successfully been settled.
Providing clarification on the unverified claims, the CBN governor highlighted various irregularities, such as the disbursement of large sums of FX for requests never submitted and allocations made without the necessary naira backing.
He said there was an absence of legal validity and adequate documentation in these transactions.
Cardoso also stressed the gravity of these irregularities, labelling numerous transactions under investigation as “clearly unlawful”.
“We brought in Deloitte management consultants who took time and this really did take months.
“This is not something that happened overnight and a lot of this work was going on and people didn’t know but they took months painstakingly to go through all the documents, all the documents and to ensure that you know, they would have a report, which we could rely on,” he said.
“In the course of that, of course, we determined that a number of these transactions did not qualify.
In some cases, you had some allocations that were made in millions of dollars, which were never requested for.
“We also had somewhere they had no naira and they were also allocated, you know, huge sums of foreign exchange and the list goes on. It was for that reason that we refused to validate those particular transactions.
“We refused to validate them because apart from the fact that documentation was not satisfactory, in many cases, they were outright illegal.
‘And the law enforcement agencies, of course, are now looking into those transactions that are, as far as we’re concerned, not valid to be paid.”

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