Economy

Return of BDCs to Forex Market Will Strengthen Naira—ABCON

Published

6 years ago

25/05/2020

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has said the local currency has a very strong outlook going forward.

President of the group, Mr Aminu Gwadabe, while speaking on the proposed resumption of sales of foreign exchange (forex) to its over 5,000 members by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), stated that the Naira outlook is expected to remain relatively strong on the back of growing foreign reserves at over $37 billion, increasing global demand for crude oil, rising commodity prices and rising global trade.

He blamed the present pressure on the domestic currency on activities of currency speculators, who he expressed confidence will soon lose up to N10 billion.

He said these speculators have continued to make spurious demand for Dollar with the hope of making good returns from the rising gaps between official and parallel market rates.

But he warned them of the looming danger for their trade if they refuse to retrace their steps as they will incur losses in the next few months as the CBN prepares for BDCs’ return to the forex market after nearly six weeks of absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to protect operators.

Mr Gwadabe said the CBN’s planned lifting of moratorium on dollar sales to BDCs, reopening of the airports for air travels as well as global ease on restriction of movement are positive indications that dollar flows to the economy will soon improve.

He said the Naira has been exchanging at N461 to a dollar at the parallel market, but will be upbeat once dollar sales to BDCs commence.

“The return of over 5,000 BDCs to the forex market will add great strength to the Naira and lead to major capital losses for forex speculators.

“It happened in 2016 and it will happen again in 2020. The return of the BDCs will immediately boost Naira recovery and put the enemies of the economy to shame.

“We are committed to the CBN’s exchange rate stability and will take all necessary steps within set rules and regulations to keep the naira stable,” he assured.

Mr Gwadabe said the return of BDCs to the forex market will help chase away speculators, curb rising inflation, boost productivity and employment, enhance price discovery, enhance market transparency and competitiveness.

Aside positive developments in the global economy, the CBN has taken steps to address the risks facing the naira, which will lead to rapid recovery for the local currency.

The ABCON chief said the measures taken by oil producers to sustain price stability were commendable as many governments across the world have agreed to oil production adjustment targets and continued collaboration with all their partners, a move he said will benefit Nigeria.

He said amid huge capital flow reversal, driven by risk-off sentiment, the impact on the Naira was milder compared with the fate of other African countries’ currencies.

According to him, currency rates of African countries show that the South African rand is the worst hit, down 20.6 percent year-to-date.

This was followed by the Angolan Kwanza which has depreciated by 16.1 percent, Mauritius Rupee (-8.8 percent), Nigerian Naira (-6.6 percent) and Kenyan Shilling (-5.3 percent) followed in that order.

Others include the Tunisian Dinar (-3.8 percent), Morocco’s Dirham (-2.7 percent) and the West African Monetary Union’s CFA franc (-2.3 percent). Notably, the Egyptian Pound, up 1.3 percent year-to-date, remains the best performer across the region.

Mr Gwadabe explained that while an adjustment of the Nigerian naira from N360/$ to N385/$ broadly reflects the 6.6 percent weakness observed in the official market, it must be noted that currency depreciation at the unofficial market is much deeper, currently at N461/$.

Speaking on ABCON’s reopening guidelines to all its members nationwide, he said operators will be required to have on-boarding of the queuing crowd ticketing management application known as ABCON 360°QSM portal with over 80 percent members registered nationwide so far.

“We are also updating all regulatory obligations during the lockdown, fumigation of members’ offices/markets, distribution of second phase of face mask nationwide to our members.

“There is also the provision of wash hand basins, sanitizers at our distributions centres while members are to explore school fees, mortgage, subscription payments as one of their allowable scopes during post COVID-19,” he said.

Economy

Naira Crashes to N1,420/$1 at Official FX Market

Published

11 minutes ago

15/01/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira crashed against the United States Dollar on Wednesday, January 14 by 38 Kobo or 0.03 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) to N1,420.04/$1, in contrast to the N1,419.66/$1 it was traded a day earlier.

Despite the decline in the daily value of the Naira against the greenback in the official FX market, the near-term projection indicate that with continued support by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), stronger external inflows from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), and improving current account dynamics, the local currency will remain within projected range.

The country’s external reserves continued to swell as it added $40.26 million to the previous day’s balance, bringing total reserves to $45.78 billion.

Data showed that the domestic currency firmed up against the Pound Sterling in the spot market by N2.89 to trade at N1,911.09/£1 versus Tuesday’s closing rate of N1,913.98/£1 and gained N1.11 against the Euro to finish at N1,655.48/€1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,656.59/€1.

At the GTBank forex desk, the Nigerian currency gained N4 on the US Dollar to sell for N1,427/$1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,431/$1 but closed flat at the black market at N1,490/$1.

A look at the cryptocurrency market showed that most of the tracked tokens were under pressure as broader financial markets turned cautious of the US-Iran rhetoric, which affect risk assets like crypto.

US President Donald Trump signaled he may delay military action against Iran, easing immediate geopolitical tensions.

With upcoming U.S. economic data unlikely to shift expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut before midyear, traders are watching whether crypto can hold positive positions despite softer equity markets.

During the trading day, Litecoin (LTC) declined by 4.9 per cent to $74.70, Cardano (ADA) slumped by 4.3 per cent to $0.4024, Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 2.6 per cent to $0.1433, Ripple (XRP) slipped by 2.0 per cent to $2.09, Ethereum (ETH) shrank by 0.13 per cent to $3,319.40, and Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 0.05 per cent to $936.13.

On the gainers’ angle, Bitcoin (BTC) led with an appreciation of 2.9 per cent to sell at $96,474.70, and Solana (SOL) grew by 0.3 per cent to $144.49, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.

Economy

Energy Stocks, Others Buoy Customs Street by 0.56%

Published

27 minutes ago

15/01/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

It was another trading session in the green territory for Customs Street on Wednesday as it closed higher by 0.56 per cent as investors doubled down on their confidence in the market.

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited rallied despite the consumer goods sector going down by 0.20 per cent due to profit-taking by traders.

According to data, the 6.26 per cent gain recorded by the energy space and the others contributed to the growth achieved by bourse at midweek.

Business Post reports that the commodity index was up by 3.35 per cent, the insurance counter expanded by 0.78 per cent, the banking index grew by 0.05 per cent, and the industrial goods sector advanced by 0.01 per cent.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the platform was swollen by 934.63 points to 166,771.95 points from 165,837.32 points as the market capitalisation inflated by N599 billion to N106.781 trillion from N106.182 trillion.

During the session, there were 47 price gainers and 28 price losers, implying a positive market breadth index and bullish investor sentiment.

Academy Press gained 10.00 per cent to close at N8.25, NCR Nigeria improved by 9.98 per cent to N106.30, Tripple G surged by 9.95 per cent to N4.86, Tantalizers rose by 9.93 per cent to N2.99, and McNichols leapt by 9.92 per cent to N7.31.

On the flip side, May and Baker lost 9.79 per cent to trade at N28.55, Coronation Insurance shed 6.76 per cent to settle at N3.31, Livestock Feeds declined by 6.67 per cent to N7.00, PZ Cussons moderated by 6.52 per cent to N54.50, and Eterna gave up 6.30 per cent to quote at N34.20.

It was a quiet market day on Wednesday as the level of activity dropped, as Access Holdings, which led the chart by volume, only transacted 53.4 million shares valued at N1.2 billion, Lasaco Assurance traded 39.0 million stocks worth N100.2 million, Veritas Kapital sold 32.8 million equities for N69.6 million, Tantalizers exchanged 30.1 million shares worth N89.6 million, and Deap Capital traded 28.6 million stocks valued at N114.1 million.

At the close of business, a total of 761.9 million equities worth N29.9 billion exchanged hands in 55,751 deals compared with the 1.1 billion equities valued at N33.6 billion transacted in 49,216 deals on Tuesday, indicating a shortfall in the trading volume and value by 30.74 per cent and 11.01 per cent apiece, and a leap in the number of deals by 13.28 per cent.

Economy

Oil Falls as Trump Cools Possible Attack on Iran

Published

49 minutes ago

15/01/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Oil traded lower on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump eased fears of disruptions to Iranian supplies, indicating that killings in Iran’s crackdown on civil unrest were subsiding.

Yesterday, the price of Brent futures declined by 92 cents or 1.41 per cent to $64.55 per barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures slipped 96 or 1.57 per cent to $60.19 a barrel.

Prices had risen on fears of Iranian supply disruptions due to a potential US attack on Iran and possible retaliation against US regional interests.

President Trump said on Wednesday afternoon he had been told that killings in Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests were subsiding and he believed there was currently no plan for large-scale executions.

Still, tensions between Iran and the US remained high after Iran had warned US allies in the Middle East it would strike American bases on their soil if the US attacked it. The US began evacuating military personnel from a key Qatar air base on Wednesday.

While markets may have cooled somewhat on the back of President Trump’s comments, protests in Iran have persisted, and there remains plenty of uncertainty over what might come next.

Market analysts noted that continued protests in Iran risk tightening global oil balances through near-term supply losses, but mainly through rising geopolitical risk premium.

However, this remains somewhat minimal as the protests had not spread to the main Iranian oil-producing areas, which had limited the effect on actual supply.

Also supporting oil prices, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said on Wednesday he was optimistic about the economic outlook and expected inflation to ease.

It is also looking increasingly likely that Venezuela’s oil supply is set to return to markets, with the US completing its first sale of Venezuelan oil on Wednesday.

Two supertankers departed Venezuelan waters on Monday with about 1.8 million barrels each of crude in what may be the first shipments of a 50 million-barrel supply deal between Venezuela and the US to get exports moving again following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Crude oil inventories in the US increased by 3.4 million barrels during the week ending January 14, according to new data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday.

The EIA’s data release follows figures by the American Petroleum Institute (API) that were released a day earlier, which suggested that crude oil inventories grew by 5.27 million barrels.