The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased the amount that banks can sell to Bureaus De Change (BDCs) from $30,000 to $50,000. At the announcement of the decision Tuesday, the naira firmed up against the dollar, signaling that it was the right thing to do at this time.

This was disclosed by the Managing Director of UBA Mr. Kennedy Uzoka at the end of the Bankers’ Committee meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.  The decision to increase the amount, he said, was taken to drive down the price and ensure that people get enough to pay school fees as schools are about to open, adding that people who will be traveling at this period will require Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) and PTA.

Uzoka declared that by increasing the amount that BDCs can purchase from banks the bankers’ committee noted that the decision was not a reversal of earlier decision but a tweaking of the earlier decision.

This was also corroborated by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications of CBN, Mr, Issac Okorafor, who underscored the need for the decision as part of the measures necessary in forex management in a moment of crisis.

Peter Amangbo, Managing Director of Zenith Bank, in his address, told journalists that in keeping with the coming celebration of World Savings Day, all banks in Nigeria will break into different groups to cover all the Local Government Areas in the country to sensitize those at the grassroots on the need for people to save massively.

“The sensitization of the grassroots by all banks is to grow the pool of funds available for lending and the need to save.

“There will always be disparity in savings and interest rate stressing that the gap is not as wide as people think it is and the longer people save the more interest they will earn.

“There are lots of accounts that can be opened with minimal documentation. You don’t need brick and mortar branches anymore because mobile apps are now game changers as a result there is no need to have beaches in Local Government Areas (LGAs).

The CBN’s director of Banking Supervision, Mrs Tokunbo Martins disclosed that a decision was taken at the end of the bankers’ committee meeting to start disbursing the special intervention fund to support primary agricultural projects and core manufacturing.

This special intervention fund she said will be “for projects that support import substitution, projects that will help protect foreign exchange such that whatever we were importing before can be manufactured.”

“This fund will be released to this kind of projects, it will not be released to any kind of project and once these funds are released there will be some ease on the system and there will be more liquidity so important projects will get financing at a lower single digit interest rate.”