the efficiency and effectiveness of the new regulations will depend on how determined the CBN and commercial banks are to ensure that genuine users are not denied access to foreign exchange. “For instance, with the new policy, manufacturers will depend solely on the interbank market for their FX needs. We hope the banks will provide a seamless process and timely execution of foreign exchange applications by manufacturers,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, CBN Governor Emefiele noted that the central bank’s decision last week has also received the support of political authorities, who have held discussions with the CBN regarding non-compliance reported from this segment of the market.
“This is an issue even the political authorities had engaged the central bank on and we tried our best to defend the BDCs. Put bluntly, even our leaders who constitute the political authorities have raised concerns about the modus operandi of BDCs in Nigeria. We did our best to defend them, but at this stage, we cannot continue,” he noted. “So, if you ask me if we carried the political authorities along, I would say the political authorities themselves had long though that this should stop.”
