Part of a bigger push to help assuage the pain of sourcing the greenback, which is in limited supply in Nigeria, the drive is focusing on firms earning foreign exchange and those based within Nigeria's special economic zones.
Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) will give leave to firms to list dollar bonds on its trading platform, turning away from a long tradition that only permits the listing of naira corporate notes.
Such bonds will come on board first once the market's watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), approves the move, while stocks of similar nature will be considered later.
Part of a bigger push to help assuage the pain companies face in sourcing the greenback, which is in short supply in Nigeria, the drive is focusing on firms earning foreign exchange and those based within Nigeria's special economic zones.
"Our primary objective is to enable these companies to issue bonds denominated in dollars and eventually offer equity in dollars as well," Bloomberg quoted Temi Popoola, the chief executive of NGX, as saying in an interview.
"It could potentially address the challenges posed by fluctuations in foreign currency."
Nigeria let the official exchange rate of naira to the US dollar weaken by nearly 40 per cent in June, aiming to close a fast-expanding gulf between it and the black-market rate and achieve a convergence.
The currency reform has bucked expectations, and the spread has since 14 June widened by over 20 per cent, vulnerable to pressures from heaps of unmet dollar demands accumulating for more than three years now.
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The outlook is even substantially graver.
Analysts' forecast places the short-term official exchange rate anywhere between N1200 and N1500, spooked by a recent estimate by JP Morgan, putting Nigeria's net forex reserves at $3.7 billion as of the end of last year, compared to $14 billion a year earlier.
Those two balances contradict the figures previously stated by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which is currently undergoing a forensic audit.
There was no disclosure by the NGX boss of when the policy will kick off, but he intimated that amending the exchange's regulations for that purpose is achievable within a short time.
Allowing some selected companies to pay dividends in dollars is part of the talks with SEC, Mr Popoola added.
According to him, there is a good amount of dollars held by individual and institutional investors, which local capital markets can tap to support more listings.
"If the target companies cannot access dollars in our market, many of them may opt to list abroad," he said.
