Nigeria’s central bank has announced new measures to tackle money laundering it says is weakening the naira currency and risks pushing up inflation, and which it suspects is linked to early political campaigning for 2015 elections.
“Available statistics indicate that Nigeria has become the largest importer of U.S. dollars,” the regulator said in Friday’s notice explaining that its twice-weekly wholesale foreign exchange auction will be replaced with a retail version requiring dealers to reveal the identity of their buyers.
Corruption in the build-up to Nigeria’s 2015 election is partly responsible for the increase, Governor Lamido Sanusi said at the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Tuesday, adding that it is “absolutely wrong” for bureaux de changes to buy hundreds of millions of dollars without accountability.
“We have seen evidence of huge demand for dollars by bureaux de changes, huge purchases of cash that are not accounted for and that signals money laundering and we’ve got to deal with it,” Sanusi told Reuters by telephone.
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Two recent examples of Central bank getting down hard on money exchanges: click here and click here
Reference to the above story in Central Banks’ recent publication: Central Bank of Nigeria Communique No. 91 of the Monetary Policy Committee Meeting of Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 September, 2013 With Personal Statements –