All black market Forex traders will have to be lawful in the way and manner they transact their business as it will no longer be business as usual.
The federal government has ordered the State Security Serivce (SSS) to arrest all black market currency traders who go against the Forex policy with immediate effect.
In order to stop the further decline of the Naira, any parallel market dealer who trades the Naira above NGN400 to USD1 will be sanctioned and prosecuted.
The move is sanctioned by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria. Aminu Gwadabe, the President of association told Bloomberg that the association has the backing of the CBN in order to bring ‘sanity’ into the market.
The Naira (NGN) has already appreciated to NGN400 to USD1 from NGN460 to USD1 it was sold for before Tuesday.
It would be recalled that the CBN banned black market operators from the Forex market over allegations of undue speculations and artificial scarcity that further deteriorated the currency.
However, the Central Bank of Nigeria has been blamed by many analysts who are of the opinion that the apex bank did not float the currency on time but pegged it at NGN197 to USD1 for several months while oil prices continued to decline.
The eventual devaluation of the Naira has not encouraged foreign investors to come into the country. Many of them are stil not satisfied with the turn of events. The Forex market is still be being controlled by the CBN. Despite the hike in interest rate to 14%, capital importation is still about 30% lower than what it was in last year’s third quarter.
