CBN: ALMOST TOO LATE BUT....

Once again thank God the hard times are here in Nigeria. At least the Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN) has been forced by trickling foreign exchange to stop selling dollars to Bureau De Change weekly.
According to the CBN governor, Mr Emefiele, the decision takes immediate effect alongside rethinking of the stoppage of dollar deposit taking by banks. They can once again take such deposits.
Curiously, it had to take drying up foreign exchange earnings for the CBN to take this decision when from the figures reeled out by mr Emefiele it has been long overdue.
Firstly, the number of bureau de change grew from 74 to 2,786 by 2015 with about 150 new applications for license being received daily, without any one raising eyebrow.
Secondly, as the numbers leapt, the CBN continued to sell $60,000 monthly to each Bureau de change at official rates, reducing this to $10,000 each when the forex inflow was near rock bottom, again, without any one raising an alarm .
Now, says Emefiele, can't sell, won't sell to bureau de change is it only because crude oil price was down 70%; global economy was hit by American monetary policy and tensions along global trade routes and because at today's low crude oil price, monthly import bill stands at N917.6bn for Nigeria. Of course, this compares very unfavourably with 2005 first crude oil price low when monthly import bill was just N148.3bn.
Decoded, let us give thanks to God that the forex pot is depleting fast, if not, like for fuel subsidy Nigeria would have gladly continued to fund a growing army of parasites whose only expertise and contributions to the economy comes packaged in currency round tripping. Buy cheap from the CBN, sell high to desperate customers.
This is hoping too that someday soon, Nigeria and Nigerians will be able to thank God when the time comes to stop subsidising not just wasteful fuel demand but also, demand from neighbouring states, again because many buy it cheap then across the border, make money from exchange rate and price differences.

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