Speculation, Hoarding Bane Of Naira/Dollar Exchange Rate – BDC President

A Bureau De Change operator, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, has identified speculation, hoarding and increasing zero confidence of foreign investors among others as the reason for the continued spike in the exchange rate.

Gwadabe, President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), made the assertion on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.

The ABCON chief also said that the existence of a Non-Derivable Forward (NDF) market in London that enjoyed the patronage of Nigerian companies and foreign investors contributed to dollar liquidity challenge.

According to him, the NDF market rate hovers around N430 to a dollar.

“The existence of that market is a challenge to liquidity inflow to our own market,’’ Gwadabe said.

The financial expert explained that Diaspora remittances had recently declined as most of the newly registered International Money Transfers Operators (IMTSO) had yet to send inflows.

Gwadabe called for a robust and sustainable dialogue between operators in the forex market and the regulator to ensure an urgent solution to the unfortunate situation.

He noted that most countries experiencing recession were already getting out of it but wondered why the Nigerian situation was ‘lukewarm’.