“Banks no longer accept dollar cash due to large speculation on the currency,” the Chief Executive Officer, First City Monument Bank, Mr. Ladi Balogun, told a conference call last week
He said the lenders would continue to receive dollar transfers from other banks.
The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, had two weeks ago said the naira was “appropriately priced” at its current level of 197 to the dollar on the interbank market.
The local currency has lost around 15 per cent against the dollar over the past year, with an official devaluation in November and a de facto one in February.
The naira had weakened on the parallel market, falling as low as 245, on persistent dollar shortages after the central bank last month limited importers’ access to dollars in order to save the external reserves.
Early last month, the central bank fixed the spread at which bureaux de change operators could sell dollars to individuals, and also limited the amount that bank customers would spend using their debits cards abroad.
Although the restrictions have angered investors and frustrated companies that need dollars for imports, Emefiele has rejected the idea of loosening the curbs, saying the central bank could not adopt an “indeterminate policy” of currency depreciation.
Global ratings agency, Standards Poor’s, had also said Nigeria would have to devalue its currency at some stage, possibly by more than 15 per cent, though it saw the adjustments as likely to be gradual.
FCMB’s Balogun had also noted that the parallel market was beginning to see a reversal in the naira’s weakness as banks stopped taking dollar deposits.
