Business Day
Micro, Small, and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria are left at the mercy of black market operators in accessing foreign exchange even after the central bank pulled the plug on supply to the operators and channelled supply to the commercial banks.
Currently, it costs N415 to get one dollar from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) while it costs about N550 in the parallel market, giving a difference of at least N135 per dollar.
Although the black market (Bureau De Changes – BDCs) is much more expensive, it is a faster and less cumbersome process, and at the end of the day the dollar is always available with them, unlike commercial banks that do not have enough to go round.
Nigeria has 39.6 million MSMEs, 58.6 percent (23.23m) of these are involved in wholesale and retail trade, buying products abroad and selling them in Nigeria.
Access to foreign exchange, credit availability and regulatory policies have topped the challenges chart of MSMEs in Nigeria and have become multidimensional, and even more intense than previous years to the point where it is almost defying efforts to manage it.
Most MSMEs deal in the sale of clothes, household kits, shoes, electronics, among others, primarily sourcing the products from China, Turkey, Dubai, the United States, etc. where the dollar serves as the dominantly accepted currency.
Consequently, the unfavourable exchange rate and restricted access to the dollar continue to affect these businesses as they are forced to pay…
Connect with us on our socials: