-But Vows To Take Measures In Curtailing Foreign Exchange Rate
By Jackson C. Clay, Jr.
The Central Bank Liberia (CBL) Executive Governor-designate, Nathaniel Patray says foreigners who are involved into foreign exchange business in Liberia are likely to be ‘expelled or deported’ from the sector and from the country.
Speaking Friday, July 20, 2018 when he appeared before the Liberian Senate committee on Banking and Currency, the CBL governor-designate told members of the committee that the foreign exchange sector is crowded with foreigners, constituting about over sixty to sixty five percent (60-65%).
Patray indicated that the Economic Management Team is currently working with the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS) to ascertain the total number of foreigners in the foreign exchange business and take some actions against them by prohibiting them and subsequently deporting them back to their various countries.
“The over one hundred and something foreign exchange bureaus that are operating in Monrovia and its environs, over sixty to sixty five percent of them are operated by foreigners. And we are working with the Liberia Immigration Service to ascertain that and when it is established we will stop and send them back to their countries because they leave their countries and come to our country to destabilize our economy,” the CBL Executive Governor- designate stressed.
Patry at the same time, said the infusing of the US$25million would make significant impact in addressing the current economic crisis facing the country.
The long time financial expert and economist indicated that the proposed US$25million would not just be thrown into the economy at once, but would be done gradually, noting that with this and other long and medium-term measures, the Liberian dollars would be appreciated within the next quarter.
“The notion out there is that the management team is about to throw US$25million into the economy like that, but that is not the case we are going to do that periodically and so, if they are waiting, they have to wait for the next two months or so,” he noted.
He disclosed that already the CBL has infused US$5million into the economy and has moped up over LRD59million off the market so far.
The CBL governor-designate indicated that the whole idea behind the auction is to bring relief to the people, thus, the auction is giving out rate that is lower than the market rate.
Patray warned that the country’s economy is in a challenging and crisis time and as such, individuals who according to him have no financial knowledge should avoid making statements that would create panic in the public.
Meanwhile, the CBL governor-designate has disclosed that the current exchange rate of Liberian dollars to the United States dollars is LRD150.00 to US$1.00 for buying purposes and LRD152.00 to US$1.00 for selling purposes.
Comments are closed.