The naira yesterday depreciated in value against the dollar at the autonomous market, as customers of Bureau de Change (BDC) shy away from disclosing their Bank Verification Number (BVN) before making purchase.
Consequently, the naira weakened by N3 or 1.3 percent at the BDC segment of the foreign exchange (FX) market. After trading on Thursday, the local currency closed at N228/$ compared with N225/$ traded the previous day.
It also lost N4/$ or 1.77 percent at the parallel market, on Thursday, closing at N230/$ as against N225/$ the previous day.
However, at the interbank FX market, naira gained against dollar by N0.39k or 0.20 percent as it closed at N198.80k/$ as against N199.19k the previous day, data from FMDQ revealed.
Aminu Gwadabe, acting president, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), explained that their customers were refusing to disclose their BVN on the bases of security issues.
Meanwhile, the CBN has asked the currency dealers not to hide their BVN for FX transactions. Gwadabe called on the CBN to engage the forex dealers and general public on sensitisation programmes.
The CBN had last month in a circular to all banks and licensed BDCs said with effect from November 1, 2015, that all customers desiring to purchase foreign exchange through all available channels in Nigeria must provide their BVN, which shall be validated by the CBN authorized foreign exchange dealer through the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) platform before transactions are consummated.
However, Nigeria raised N122.95 billion ($618m) on Treasury bills with maturities from three months to a year at an auction on Wednesday, with yields lower than at previous auctions, the central bank said on Thursday, Reuters report.
The result of the auction showed that the bank sold N45.17 billion worth of three-month paper at 5.82 percent compared with 8.49 percent at the October 21 auction.
It also sold N23.43 billion worth of six-month debt at 7.98 percent, down from 10.15 percent previously, and N54.35 billion of one-year paper sold at 9.48 percent, the auction results showed.
The drop in yields was reflective of trends in the secondary market, where returns have fallen to 3.61 percent, 7.22 percent and 8.20 percent for three-month, six-month and one-year debt each.
