By Yusuf Boluwatife
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), last week, accused Aboki FX, an online foreign exchange update platform, of manipulating the forex market, threatening to shut down its operations.
Meanwhile, Professor Pat Utomi, a past presidential candidate and political economist, has disagreed with apex bank’s decision to prosecute the owner of Aboki FX.
In a interview with The PUNCH, said policy makers are the biggest problem with the forex market.
“As a general principle I disagree with that approach. Of course markets needs to be regulated and have boundaries, but I think it is too easy to blame markets when sometimes the problem might be within.
“I think there is nobody who is knowledgeable that does not know that for a number of years, policymakers were the biggest problem with the forex market.
“Let us not deceive ourselves, the current order has ruined the forex market, so for those who made such decisions to now complain, I think it is uncharitable. If they continue to clamp down on this and that, then the market would collapse and we will return to where we were in the 1980s,” he said.
The PUNCH reported the dollar was sold for N574 in Abuja as opposed to the N570 it was sold for on Friday.
In Lagos, the dollar was sold at N572 while in Kano it was N575 as of 3pm on Monday. The pound was sold for N780 as opposed to N770 last Friday.
