Banking

How to source foreign exchange in Nigeria

How to source foreign exchange in Nigeria. The paucity of foreign exchange in Nigeria banking industry is gradually becoming a thing of the past as CBN is doing much more to stabilize the economy and as well regulate the rate of foreign exchange in Nigeria. The problem of how to source FX has continued to bother business men and the likes who either need the money for  SME, PTA, BTA or for Medical bills abroad.

Before we go further into this topic, one may ask what exactly do I mean by FX? FX as it sounds implies to foreign exchange. Using Nigeria as a case study I tend to highlight the importance of this foreign exchange to business men who cut across all divides.

In Nigeria, the major sourced foreign exchange is the U.S Dollars, which can be traced to its acceptability across different nations of the world, thus on a very high demand. Inline with the scarcity of USD, the CBN has taken a bolder step to open several windows to access official funds for payment of goods and services across the glob, while before now was a challenge that led to recession in Nigeria.

In continuation of the effort to increase foreign exchange  in Nigeria availability in  Forex markets. The following schemes were introduced by CBN.

* Foreign exchange in Nigeria for invisible– Travel allowances, school fees and medicals; this is Forex specifically allocated  for the purpose of funding the aforementioned.

Read also: How To Process Form M For Importation In Nigeria

* Foreign exchange in Nigeria for small and medium enterprises– This is Forex allocated to the Banks for the utilization of small and medium enterprises.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE IN NIGERIA: TRAVEL ALLOWANCE PTA/BTA

PTA/BTA Is an acronym for personal travel allowance, business travel allowance. It’s the official allowances that the travellers are entitled when travelling outside the country.

Authorized dealers are allowed to sell foreign  exchange for personal and business travellers to countries outside Nigeria. However there are eligibility to these funds which affirms that

* Travel allowance will be available only to individuals with minimum age of 18 years, not for minor.

* Institutions will be entitled to obtain business travel allowance with the presentation of requisite documentation.

* PTA/BTA cannot be obtained at the same time within the same quarter.

*Eligible account holders with the intending bank of choice shall be allowed to obtain a minimum of $4000 per quarter for PTA and $5000 for BTA per quarter.

* PTA shall only apply to journeys of five hours  and above  flight time.

* Applicants flying to the West African region and Cameroon are excluded from purchase of travel allowance.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE IN NIGERIA: TRAVEL ALLOWANCE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED.

An individual shall obtain PTA upon presentation of the following to the bank of choice.

* Valid international passport ( only Nigeria international passport holders are eligible)

* International air return ticket ( flight must originate from Nigeria for the trip)

* Valid visa to country of destination or applicant Green card or residents permit ( West African countries are not eligible)

You shall be eligible to obtain BTA upon presentation of the following.

* Evidence of business registration e.g certificate of in corporation

* Letter of nomination or introduction from corporate body stating the purpose of the visit.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE IN NIGERIA: PAYMENT OF SCHOOL FEES

The quest for quality and standard education has led many youths outside the shores of Nigeria to seek desired education abroad , thereby the need on how to source foreign exchange in Nigeria to pay their school fees.

FX for school fees shall be made available on the following.

* Schools located within Nigeria that the bills are quoted in foreign currencies are not entitled to access this fund.

* The fund is dominated in USD and can subsequently be converted to the equivalent of the currency on the bill.

* The foreign exchange in Nigeria is sourced under this scheme shall be remitted directly into the school’s account.

* The applicant must present admission letter in the letter head of the school.

* The fund will be sourced with a duly completed form A.

You may also like: Access up to $20k for SME Imports in Nigeria using Form Q – Financengr

FOREIGN EXCHANGE IN NIGERIA: PAYMENT OF MEDICAL BILLS 

The problem of how to source FX had applied to payment of medical bills abroad. The fund shall be accessed under the following conditions.

* The applicant will present a completed form A.

* A letter of reference from a specialist hospital in Nigeria.

* Travel documents including passport, visa and ticket.

* Letter issued by overseas specialist Doctor stating the cost of the treatment.

* Remittance shall be made directly to the hospital’s account, amount limited to the amount on the bill.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE IN NIGERIA: CBN EXCHANGE RATE IN NIGERIA TODAY

The CBN exchange rate in Nigeria is a dynamic one, however at the time of writing this article it’s been sold for N305.90 per dollar. Also visit https://www.abokifx.com

FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET IN NIGERIA

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)  boosted the inter-bank foreign exchange market with another $210 million, the bank’s acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, said.

Mr Okorafor said in a statement that the apex bank offered $100 million to authorised dealers in the wholesale segment of the market.

He added that the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) segment received $55 million, while $55 million was apportioned to invisibles such as tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance.

The acting director reiterated CBN’s capacity to continue to sustain the foreign exchange intervention.

He urged authorised dealers to help to sustain the confidence in the foreign exchange market by continuing to honour requests from customers with genuine needs.

CBN has intervened in the foreign exchange market to the tune of $559.34 million.

Meanwhile, Naira had continued to maintain stability in the market, exchanging at an average of N362 to a dollar in the Bureau De Change segment of the market. CBN has tried to maintain a decent CBN exchange rate to dollar, dollar to naira bank rate as well to maintain a rigid structure of Nigerian foreign exchange market.

Thank you for taking your time to read through this post, feel free use the comment box and ask questions or seek clarity where in doubt on access to fx in Nigeria.

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One comment on “How to source foreign exchange in Nigeria

Raphael Orji
chinedu ukpai

thank you for the enlightenment

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