The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that it will release new foreign exchange guidelines today, Wednesday, June 15, 2016.
The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department of the Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN), Issac Okoroafor, has confirmed to Vanguard yesterday that the CBN will today announce details of the much anticipated ‘flexible’ foreign exchange rate policy. “Yes, details of the policy will be announced tomorrow (today).”
The apex bank also took to its Twitter account to make the revelation on Tuesday night. “CBN set to release new Guidelines on flexibility in the Foreign Exchange Market structure on Wednesday, June 15, 2016,” the bank said.
The announcement is coming three weeks after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), of the CBN decided to introduce “greater flexibility in the management of the foreign exchange market.
“The foreign exchange market framework, now ready, the MPC voted unanimously to adopt greater flexibility in exchange rate policy to restore the automatic adjustment properties of the exchange rate. Consequently, all nine members voted to hold and introduce greater flexibility in managing the foreign exchange rate.
“The bank would, however, retain a small window for funding critical transactions. Details of operation of the market would be released by the bank at an appropriate time,” the committee said at the end of its meeting on May 24, 2016.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reacted positively to the MPC decisions, with the all share index (ASI) rising from 27,232 on Tuesday to 28,164 at 2pm on Wednesday.
All share index (ASI) eventually closed on a 5-month high at 28,260 points.