Nigeria: CBN's Directive On Use of Foreign Currency, a Confusing Signal

17 April 2015
opinion

Early in April 2015, the Director, Corporate Communication in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a Press Release entitled "The Use of Foreign Currency as a Medium of Exchange in Nigeria" (Press Release). Interestingly, The Press Release bears no date and no reference number. In the Press Release the CBN would appear to decry the increasing use of "foreign currencies in the domestic economy as a medium of payment for goods and services", and called the "attention of the general public" to the provisions of the CBN Act that "the currency notes issued by the Bank shall be legal tender in Nigeria ... for the payment of any amount".

Further in the Press Release, the public is advised that any person who "contravenes this provision is guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a prescribed fine or six months imprisonment"; but that the "prohibition ... is without prejudice to foreigners ... who are encouraged to continue to use their cards for payments or exchange their foreign currency for local currency at any of the authorised dealers' outpost".

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