We’ve no intention to query CBN’s authority on forex mgt – NASS

The House of Repre­sentative Commit­tee on Banking and Currency has assured the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, that the enquiries being sought by the National Assembly on its new guidelines on Bu­reau de Change operation were not intended to ques­tion the bank’s authority to regulate the manage­ment of foreign exchange in the economy.

The Committee made this clarification during an interactive session with CBN’s top management on Wednesday, July 16, 2014, following the recent review of the capitalization of bu­reaux change from N10 million to N35 million in addition to other mandatory requirements.

Also speaking at the fo­rum, CBN Governor, Mr. Emefiele stated that the new policy, which entails a minimum capital re­quirement of N35 million and a mandatory caution­ary deposit of N35 million was intended to ensure the emergence of well-capital­ised and structured BDC entities in line with global best practices.

He reiterated that the new regulatory requirement was not in any way targeted at operators from any section of the country, since there are operators in all parts of the country.

The CBN boss hinted, however, that there were se­rious leakages in the coun­try’s foreign exchange re­serves necessitating urgent action to plug such leakag­es. He stated therefore, that the policy was a holistic ef­fort to conserve foreign ex­change to achieve exchange rate stability.

He implored the commit­tee members to support the policy to enable the CBN achieve the desired foreign exchange stability and to build up stronger foreign reserves, that will help it manage Nigeria’s economy better.

Responding, the Chair­man of the Committee, Jones Onyereri, restated the determination of the com­mittee to give CBN all the support it needs to effec­tively discharge its man­dates.


THE SUN