The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the immediate changes to operations in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (FX) Market.
The changes according to a statement signed by the Director, Financial Markets of the Apex Bank, Angela Sere-Ejembi will unify all segments of the forex market.
It will involve “Abolishment of segmentation. All segments are now collapsed into the Investors and Exporters (l&E) window, while Applications for medicals, school fees, BTA/PTA, and SMEs would continue to be processed through deposit money banks.
“Re-introduction of the “Willing Buyer, Willing Seller’ model at the I&E Window. Operations in this window shail be guided by the extant circular on the establishment of the window, dated 21 April 2017 and referenced FMD/DIR/CIR/GEN/08/007. All eligible transactions are permitted to access foreign exchange at this window.
“The operational rate for all government-related transactions shall be the weighted average rate of the preceding day’s executed transactions at the 1&E window, calculated to two (2) decimal places”, Sere-Ejembi said.
She added that “Proscription of trading limits on oversold FX positions with permission to hedge short positions with OTC futures. Limits on overbought positions shall be zero.
“Re-introduction of order-based two-way quotes, with bid-ask spread of &l1. All transactions shall be cleared by a Central Counter Party (CCP).
“Reintroduction of Order Book to ensure transparency of orders and seamless execution of trades”.
The Apex Bank also fixed operational hours of trades from 9am to 4pm, Nigeria time.
The CBN also notified of the Cessation of RT200 Rebate Scheme and the Naira4Dollar Remittance Scheme, which is expected to take effect from 30 June 2023.
