The Central Bank of Nigeria has debunked the news of planning to convert $30bn domiciliary deposits to naira.
AMBusiness earlier reported that the Federal Government may be considering a policy that would convert foreign cash in residents’ domiciliary accounts to naira in order to stabilize the currency, which earlier this week saw its worst performance in history.
According to the report, if the plan is implemented, the government will instruct the Central Bank of Nigeria to set a rate for converting foreign funds that are sitting idle in the domiciliary accounts of individuals and business entities to naira.
However, on Saturday, the CBN debunked this ‘fake news’ on its official X page.
It said: “No plans to convert $30bn domiciliary deposits to naira. This news is fake!”
There have been rumours that because of the CBN’s recent action to bring back stability in the foreign currency market, individual accounts that are dominated by dollars could be in danger.
According to the CBN, the decision was made because of worries about banks’ increasing use of their NOPs to expose foreign exchange.
The regulatory body also removed the maximum exchange rate that the international money transfer providers could quote.
The CBN instructed IMTOs to utilize the FX market rate that is currently in effect in Nigeria.
On February 2, 2024, following the policies’ introduction, the naira strengthened at the official FX market section, ending at N1,435 per dollar.
