Nigeria, Feb. 6 -- The Central Bank of Nigeria has imposed new foreign exchange restrictions on Bureau de Change operators, capping weekly purchases from authorised dealer banks at $25,000.

The directive, issued on Wednesday by the Trade and Exchange Department, aims to strengthen oversight of the parallel market and improve transparency in foreign exchange transactions.

The bank had, on 19 December 2024, granted BDC operators access to the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) to purchase up to $25,000 weekly from authorised dealers, with the approval initially set to expire on 30 January. However, on Monday, it extended this approval until May.

Under the revised guidelines, each BDC is permitted to source foreign exchange from only...