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CBN Sets Up Investors, Exporters Forex Window

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Customers Forex Demands

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

A special window for investors, exporters and end-users to easily access the foreign exchange market has been established by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

This, the apex bank explains, is aimed at deepening the forex market and accommodates all forex obligations.

The CBN further said the purpose of this window is to “boost liquidity in the forex market and ensure timely execution and settlement for eligible transactions.”

Under the new regime, transactions allowed are all invisibles, excluding international airlines ticket sales’ remittances; loan repayments; loan interest payments; dividends/income remittances; capital repatriation; and management services fees.

Others are consultancy fees, software subscription fees, technology transfer agreements, personal home remittances and any such other eligible invisible transactions including ‘miscellaneous payments’ as detailed under Memorandum 15 of the CBN Foreign Exchange Manual.

According to the CBN, the supply of foreign currency to the “window shall be through portfolio investors, exporters, authorised dealers and other parties with foreign currency to exchange to Naira.

“The CBN shall also be a market participant at this Window to promote liquidity and professional market conduct.”

The apex bank explained that due to the slow progress made by corporates in on-boarding the FMDQ Thomson Reuters FX Trading & Auction Systems, participants at this window shall trade via telephone until appreciable progress is made with the FX Trading Systems On-boarding process.

“Authorised Dealers are therefore advised to promote market transparency by encouraging their corporate clients to on-board to ensure the activities of the Window are operated on the FX Trading Systems.

“Participants are advised to ensure that all trade conversations are recorded and auditable.

“Consequently, to provide price discovery to the market, FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange (FMDQ) shall be charged with polling buying and selling rates and other relevant information from the major participants in the market to provide participants with the requisite price discovery, and the CBN with the indicative market depth until the market migrates to the FX Trading Systems.

“Therefore, FMDQ shall publish on its website (wvw.fmdqotc.com) market rates and any other relevant information twice daily (Indicative Opening Mid-Rate at 9am and Indicative Closing Mid-Rate at 4am),” the bankers’ bank said in a statement on Friday and signed by the Director of Financial Markets Department, Mr Alvan Ikoku.

It stressed that the exchange rates of the transactions in the window shall be as agreed between authorised dealers and their counterparties (i.e. willing buyer and willing seller basis).

“The CBN reserves the right to intervene as a buyer or seller, as it deems fit, in the Window.

“Authorised Dealers may hold positions subject to their respective Foreign Currency Trading Position Limits (FCTPL).

“Authorised Dealers shall not exceed their respective FCTPL without the approval of the CBN. Compliance with the FCTPL shall be strictly monitored by the CBN.

“Where an Authorised Dealer has a foreign currency trading position in excess of its limit, it is expected that such excess shall be defeased during trading hours. The Authorised Dealer shall offer the funds to the CBN or to another Authorised Dealer but with the prior express approval of the CBN.

“Where such funds are sold to other Authorised Dealers, the purchased funds shall only be sold by the buying Authorised Dealer to its customers. An attestation of this compliance must be provided by the buying Authorised Dealer to the selling Authorised Dealer.

“The funds purchased cannot be held in position overnight by the buying Authorised Dealer or sold to another Authorised Dealer.

“Information on transactions between Authorised Dealers shall be reported to the CBN on a daily basis,” the CBN said further.

It added that, “Authorised Dealers shall render daily returns (hard and soft copy, in a format to be communicated by the CBN) of all transactions in this market to the Directors, Financial Markets and Banking Supervision Departments, Central Bank of Nigeria.”

Modupe Gbadeyanka is a fast-rising journalist with Business Post Nigeria. Her passion for journalism is amazing. She is willing to learn more with a view to becoming one of the best pen-pushers in Nigeria. Her role models are the duo of CNN's Richard Quest and Christiane Amanpour.

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Economy

FAAC Disburses 1.727trn to FG, States Local Councils in December 2024

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faac allocation

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The federal government, the 36 states of the federation and the 774 local government areas have received N1.727 trillion from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for December 2024.

The funds were disbursed to the three tiers of government from the revenue generated by the nation in November 2024.

At the December meeting of FAAC held in Abuja, it was stated that the amount distributed comprised distributable statutory revenue of N455.354 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N585.700 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N15.046 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N671.392 billion.

According to a statement signed on Friday by the Director of Press and Public Relations for FAAC, Mr Bawa Mokwa, the money generated last month was about N3.143 trillion, with N103.307 billion used for cost of collection and N1.312 trillion for transfers, interventions and refunds.

It was disclosed that gross statutory revenue of N1.827 trillion was received compared with the N1.336 trillion recorded a month earlier.

The statement said gross revenue of N628.972 billion was available from VAT versus N668.291 billion in the preceding month.

The organisation stated that last month, oil and gas royalty and CET levies recorded significant increases, while excise duty, VAT, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT) and EMTL decreased considerably.

As for the sharing, FAAC disclosed that from the N1.727 trillion, the central government got N581.856 billion, the states received N549.792 billion, the councils took N402.553 billion, while the benefiting states got N193.291 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

From the N585.700 billion VAT earnings, the national government got N87.855 billion, the states received N292.850 billion and the local councils were given N204.995 billion.

Also, from the N455.354 billion distributable statutory revenue, the federal government was given N175.690 billion, the states got N89.113 billion, the local governments had N68.702 billion, and the benefiting states received N121.849 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

In addition, from the N15.046 billion EMTL revenue, FAAC shared N2.257 billion to the federal government, disbursed N7.523 billion to the states and transferred N5.266 billion to the local councils.

Further, from the N671.392 billion Exchange Difference earnings, it gave central government N316.054 billion, the states N160.306 billion, the local government areas N123.590 billion, and the oil-producing states N71.442 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

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Economy

Okitipupa Plc, Two Others Lift Unlisted Securities Market by 0.65%

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Okitipupa Plc

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.65 per cent gain on Friday, December 13, boosted by three equities admitted on the trading platform.

On the last trading session of the week, Okitipupa Plc appreciated by N2.70 to settle at N29.74 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N27.04 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc added N2.49 to end the session at N42.85 per unit compared with the previous day’s N40.36 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 50 Kobo to close at N16.30 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N15.80 per share.

Consequently, the market capitalisation added N6.89 billion to settle at N1.062 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.055 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 19.66 points to wrap the session at 3,032.16 points compared with 3,012.50 points recorded in the previous session.

Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 171.6 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 447,905 units recorded a day earlier, but the value of shares traded by the market participants declined by 19.3 per cent to N2.4 million from the N3.02 million achieved a day earlier, and the number of deals went down by 14.3 per cent to 18 deals from 21 deals.

At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with the sale of 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 million.

In the same vein, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 108.7 million units for N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with a turnover of 297.3 million units worth N5.3 billion.

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Economy

Naira Trades N1,533/$1 at Official Market, N1,650/$1 at Parallel Market

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Naira at P2P Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated further against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N1.50 or 0.09 per cent to close at N1,533.00/$1  on Friday, December 13 versus the N1,534.50/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.

The local currency has continued to benefit from the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this month.

The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.

The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN.

Market analysts say the publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira in the official market and tackled speculation.

In the official market yesterday, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N12.58 to wrap the session at N1,942.19/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,954.77/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N2.44 to close at N1,612.85/€1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,610.41/€1.

At the black market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback on Friday by N30 to sell for N1,650/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,680/$1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely positive as investors banked on recent signals, including fresh support from US President-elect, Mr Donald Trump, as well as interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB).

Ripple (XRP) added 7.3 per cent to sell at $2.49, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 3.5 per cent to $728.28, Cardano (ADA) expanded by 2.4 per cent to trade at $1.11, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 2.3 per cent to $122.56, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.9 per cent to settle at $101,766.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $0.4064, Solana (SOL) soared by 0.7 per cent to $226.15 and Ethereum (ETH) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $3,925.35, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.

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