Activities at the retail
segment of the official foreign exchange market were grounded, yesterday, as
end users avoided bureaux de change (BDCs), to avoid submitting their Biometric
Verification Number (BVN) for foreign exchange transactions. This, however, resulted
in sharp increase in demand for dollars at the black market, prompting the
naira to depreciate to ₦230 per dollar from ₦225.
Recall
that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) made the BVN a criterion for sale and
purchase of foreign exchange by banks and bureaux de change (BDCs) effective
November 1.
