Fakoyejo OlalekanThe foreign exchange rate between the Naira and the United States Dollar (USD) closed at N461.50 in the official market on Thursday, 30 March 2023.
Prime Business Africa learnt that the day before, both currencies exchanged at a rate of N461.24 kobo. This means the Dollar rate appreciated on Thursday by N0.26 kobo or 0.05 per cent.
This was gathered from data obtained on the FMDQ Exchange website which also discloses that the exchange rate rose to as high as N462.04/$1. On the same day, the Dollar traded as low as N460.
Also, the data shows over $92.13 million worth of foreign exchange was transacted by the traders in the Investors and Exporters window.
Meanwhile, the financial regulator, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), fined Stanbic IBTC N44.85 million for failing to report export proceeds.
“The CBN imposed a fine of N44,850,000 on Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC for failure to report export proceeds and Certificate of Capital Importations to CBN and NFIU,” a statement in the lender’s financial statements reads.
Recall that the central bank had spoken against the private sector for obtaining forex in the official market but not repatriating the proceeds.
CBN said such action contributes to the depletion of Nigeria’s external reserves, which is $36.67 billion as of Tuesday, 28 March 2023.
The Deputy Director, Banking Services, CBN, Egboagwu Ezulu, had stated that: “We are taking FX out of this country and dumping offshore; when we were told to bring them back. If Nigerians are bringing back FX, we would not be talking about the challenges of FX. There is a challenge for individuals and businesses to do the right thing.
“That is why the CBN introduced the RT200 to encourage you to bring back the dollar you are saying is scarce, but in the books of the banks, we see billions of dollars that have been exported out of the country, and the OPS is not bringing it back, so how do we finance FX demand?” Ezulu said.
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