Guaranty Trust Holding Company (now Guaranty Trust Bank) is selling US dollars to online buyers at NGN480.96/$1, research by InfomediaNG Business Solutions (IBS) has shown.
Most times, commercial banks that have foreign exchange licences do not sell forex at a unified rate to customers as they determine what their rate would be.
When a team member of IBS paid for $30 service, the bank deducted NGN14,428.8, translating to NGN480.96 per US Dollar.
The Downfall of Naira
Naira has been under intense pressure since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in July 2021, technically made move to kick out Bureau De Change (BDC) operators from the FX value chain.
The apex bank boss Godwin Emefiele described some of their FX dealings as shady which some members perpetrated to the detriment of Nigeria’s economy, but since then things have not changed.
The apex bank stopped the sales of forex to hundreds of BDCs operators in Nigeria and chose to sell directly to banks with FX licence.
The action was hailed by some financial analysts, yet it comes with some supply and demand implications which were believed to be temporary if CBN could monitor the activities of the banks who are now in charge of forex.
For instance, CBN mandated the banks to create FX teller points at their branches to enable Nigerians to access forex for Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), Business Travel Allowance, and schools abroad among other legitimate use.
But some members of the public who needed forex to pay foreign school fees had to wait for two weeks or more. InfomediaNG user, Gbenga, who expressed frustration about the delay in accessing FX at Nigerian bank said:
“Same issue is 2week now. I have called the bank and no solution”
The exchange rate for FX regarding the “legitimate” needs should be between N412 to NGN415 per USD; between N489.57 to NGN492 per Euro, and N574.79/£.
Severally, banks have been accused of colluding with BDC operators since the CBN forex new policy began in late July 2021.
Another action taken by the Emefiele-led apex bank was to accuse the owner of abokifx Oniwinde Adedotun of using his platform to manipulate forex to his advantage, economic analysts described the allegation as not only ridiculous but embarrassing to Nigeria’s number one financial officer.
In reaction, abokifx suspended the daily update of the black market rate of the USD, Great Britain Pounds, and Euro among others, but nothing has changed.
Emefiele, a former university lecturer-turned banker has mentioned several other things in a move to demystify why the naira continues to lose value against its competitors at the forex market.
CBN Sells USD Above Its Exchange Rate
In a related development, it has also been discovered that the CBN which says USD/NGN on its official website is 411.06/USD is selling forex to foreign portfolio investors at N443/$, according to insider research by nairametrics.
Black Market rate October 29, 2021
At the time of this report, the black rate of USD against the naira was NGN570 (for buy) and NGN560 (sell)
Even at the Investors and Exporters window, the official market where FX is traded officially, Naira depreciated, meaning it recorded 0.01% loss as it closed at NGN415.10/$1 when compared to Wednesday’s trade at NGN415.07 even as there was a significant increase in forex liquidity.