Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed plans to wield the big stick on foreign exchange speculators in the country in the coming days.
The acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Folashodun Shonubi, gave this indication on Monday, shortly after meeting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa Abuja.
Shonubi said the President was angry at the activities of speculators, which he believes was fueling an ever-increasing margin between the dollar to naira.
The parallel market dollar exchange rate to the naira currently stands at about N950 to US$1, a development that industry stakeholders and players fear might spur further fuel pump prices.
CBN Boss said, “Mr President is very, very concerned about some of the goings on in the foreign exchange market. One of the things we discussed was what could be done to stabilize and what could be done to improve the liquidity in the market and also the goings on in the various other markets, including the parallel market.
“He is concerned about its impact on the average person since; unfortunately, a lot of activities that we do which are purely local are still referenced to the exchange rates in the parallel markets.
“We have discussed and shared with him what we’re doing to improve supply. If you look at the official market, you will find that that market has been fairly stable, and the spreads of the difference do not fluctuate as much.
“We do not believe that the changes going on in the parallel market are driven by pure economic demand and supply but are topped by speculative demand from people.
“Some of the plans and strategies which I’m not at liberty to share with you means sooner rather than later, the speculators should be careful because we believe the things we’re doing when they come to fruition may result in significant losses to them”.