Officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and the federal Ministry of Finance have reacted to reports of plan to convert dollars held in the domiciliary accounts into Naira amidst the forex crisis in the country.
According to the apex bank, there is “absolutely” no plan to convert funds held in the domiciliary accounts into Naira contrary to reports by a section of the press.
The reaction is coming following reports by The PUNCH that the federal government and the apex bank were considering converting domiciliary accounts to naira as part of measures to solve the foreign exchange (forex) crisis and stop the crash of the naira.
According to the Newspaper, the government is expected to order the conversion of foreign currencies sitting idly in individuals’ and corporate organisations’ domiciliary accounts to naira at a rate to be determined by the CBN.
It claimed that the decision is meant to stabilise the naira, which recorded its biggest fall in the official Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, to close at N1,348 per dollar.
However reacting on Saturday, the apex bank completely dismissed the report.
“I do not why anyone will publish such a baseless article like this at this time in our nation’s financial history,” Governor Yemi Cardoso told BusinessDay on Saturday.
“There is absolutely no such plan to seize funds in domiciliary accounts or to convert such funds to Naira”, he added.
Also in a statement by the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, on Saturday, he said there was no iota of truth in the report, dismissing it as falsehood.
The CBN also in a post on its official X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday, February 3, 2024, described the report as fake.
‘’We want to assure the general public that CBN is working to build confidence and would never do anything to undermine the currency and the economy.
‘’We, therefore, urge all stakeholders to disregard stories aimed at causing panic in the system and see them clearly for what they are – acts of national sabotage.
‘’We wish to advise, in the strongest terms, against the peddling of false reports that have the potential to be disruptive to the economy. The Bank is the only designated authority for monetary policy changes and will always advise on any policy change(s) before they are brought into operation.
‘’The CBN is always open to answer questions about our policies.’’
