Travellers still unable to get forex as dollar scarcity persists

Despite recent measures by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ameliorate the difficulty in sourcing for dollars, the scarcity still persists.

Checks by Daily Trust revealed that a week after CBN directed commercial banks to open foreign exchange outlets at major airports to sell dollars and other foreign currencies to travelers, no bank has complied with the directive.

Findings by our correspondent who visited the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) yesterday indicated that none of such outlets exists.

Instead the scarcity persists as intending passengers are still unable to get dollars at the point of travelling.

All the Bureau De Change outlets visited by our correspondent at the international wing of the airport claimed they had run out of stock as of the time of filing this report.

Though naira has appreciated by about 12 per cent following the CBN’s measures, exchanging as at yesterday at N425 at the parallel market, the naira’s gain may be reserved because of scarcity.

For instance none of the BDC outlets like Sulah, Ibrao, NIPOST Lane, Clean Exchange, among others at the international airports had dollars to sell.

One of them, Kings Bureau De Change was ready to sell the forex at N470/$1.

Also, our correspondent checked at a commercial bank at the airport but the officials said there was no dollar, saying they had run out of stocks.

Findings at some of the roadside forex dealers within the airport showed that the US dollars exchanged for between N462- N470.

A BDC operator inside the departure hall of MMIA said, “If you look around, none of the outlets has dollars as I am talking to you. I only have pounds and Euros if you want”.

A passenger, Francis who was travelling to Dubai on Emirates yesterday said he had been sourcing for forex for the past one month preparatory to the trip.

Source: Daily Post