Rand Softer Ahead of Local and Global rate Announcements

The rand was weaker against the Dollar late on Monday as local and global markets awaited further central bank interest-rate announcements this week.

 
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) was due to make its announcement on Tuesday, followed by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday. The Reserve Bank and Bank of England’s (BoE’s) interest-rate decisions are due on Thursday.

At 3.27pm, the rand was at R15.3855 to the dollar from R15.2298 at Friday’s close. It was at R17.0976 against the euro from R16.9689 and R22.0777 against the pound from R21.8938.
The euro was at $1.1113 from $1.1145 previously.

Femi Falane asks court to ban Dollar as Legal tender

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), filed a suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, praying for an order restraining the Central Bank of Nigeria from allowing market forces to determine the exchange rate of the naira.

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN)

The senior advocate also asked the court in his suit, FHC/ABJ/CS/146/16, to direct the CBN to stop the use of the United States of America’s dollar as a legal tender in Nigeria.

The suit was filed on behalf of Falana by a lawyer in his firm, Mr. Wisdom Elum.

 

The CBN is sued as the sole defendant in the suit, which has yet to be assigned to a judge.

Falana

Dollar Scarcity: 40,000 Jobs Threatened, food

The difficulties in getting foreign exchange and the steep fall in the value of the naira are seriously affecting the manufacturing sector, with prices of locally made and imported food items heading northward, IFE ADEDAPO writes

The scarcity of foreign currencies in the country, especially the dollar, which has made it difficult for manufacturers of essential food items to import raw materials into the country, is threatening about 40,000 jobs.

Investigations by our correspondent showed that the high cost of importation due to unprecedented fall in the value of the naira has made importation difficult and expensive, thereby resulting in many factories operating far below their installed capacities.

CBN: Naira To Weaken Further As Dollar Demand Soars

 

The naira will weaken further at the parallel market this week after shedding nine per cent of its value last week, foreign exchange dealers and economic experts have said.

Last week, the local currency fell from 310 to 338 as acute shortage of the greenback lingered.

Naira Sinks to 285/Dollar, CBN stops Forex Sale to BDCs

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Monday stopped the sale of foreign exchange to all the 2,786 licensed Bureau De Change Operators across the country.

The ban was announced by the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, at a special media briefing held at the bank’s headquarters in Abuja just as the naira traded at 285 against the dollar at the parallel market on Monday from 278 on Friday.

He said with the decision, the CBN would no longer provide foreign exchange to the BDCs, adding that henceforth, all BDC operators must source for foreign exchange from autonomous sources.

The governor said any BDC operator that was not satisfied with the central bank’s decision should return their operational licence to the CBN and ask for the refund of their N35m deposit.

Nigeria Currency drops to 251/dollar, external reserves now $29.7bn

The naira crashed further against the dollar from 247 last Thursday to 251 on Saturday at the parallel market.

This came barely one week after the Central Bank of Nigeria cut foreign exchange supply to Bureau De Change operators.

 

The central bank had during its weekly forex sale to the BDCs last Wednesday refused to sell forex to operators that failed to render returns on the utilisation of previous forex bought at the official window.

Businesses Nigerian Worsening Macro Environment

Nigerian Business owners and other professionals are groaning under the current economic crunch the country is witnessing since the fall in global oil prices started over a year ago.

Despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) attempt to stabilise the naira exchange with the dollar, commodity prices are on the increase with people complaining bitterly about the situation.

Speaking on the economy, Magdalene Anajamba, a cloth dealer in Lawanson Market, Lagos, noted that the failure of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to name his minister has left the country at a standstill.

She added that prices of the clothes has increased so much that some of her regular customers have deserted her.

“In the last three months, items are on a high price. In fact the increase of items has made me lose a lot of customers. People cannot buy anymore because of the increase,” Anajamba said.

“Election made it worse, the cloth we buy for 10,000 per bag, during the period of the election we bought it for 13,000. I was thinking the prices would reduce after the election, instead it keeps increasing.”

Dollarisation: Banks peg domiciliary account balance at $10,000

 

In an apparent move to check the trending dollarisation of the Nigerian economy and cut down huge dollar liquidity in the system, banks are now directing their customers to keep to a maximum of $10,000 balance in their domiciliary accounts.