janco:
I always wonder why Government will nose itself "long throat" into people's private accounts.

It would be foolish to assume that the $20Billion in few private accounts is illegal, because some genuine businesses can generate such inflow.

The only foolishness I see here is that because forex is now a topical issue, suddenly CBN is awake. let the government generate its own forex and stop nosing into private accounts of genuine depositors.

There is a regulation that states that once your account is above certain sum, the anti money laundering unit is intimated.
so let them allow sleeping good dogs lie

rusher14:


Perhaps you don’t understand my post.

The government has 27 billion dollars in relation to 20 billion dollars sitting in private domiciliary accounts in Nigerian banks.

Government is actually thinking of ways of getting these individuals to "invest" this money one way or the other within the local economy.

erico2k2:

Do you actually reasoned before you wrote what you did up there? Keeping money in the bank to yield interest or to wait until its value goes up is a business on its own right don't you know that? the money in the bank is an investment on its onw as its a leverage to take loans and mortgages round the world.It serves as a gaurantee and a form of forex reserved, teh type Nigeria now craves for.

rusher14:


Please I would advise you to refrain from using foul or insulting language when contributing in a forum.

For your information, I receive some forex in my domiciliary account which just idles away without interest.

I for one would love to invest it in anything meaningful if the environment were right and the possibility sound.

Of course the government is aware of such possibilities, and would if reasonable, be looking to get her own citizens and internal account holders to invest in the local economy.

If your own citizens are reluctant can you expect foreign investors?

erico2k2:

Plz point me to where foul or insulting language was used in my quote?
You claimed you received some forex in ur Dom account, can I ask of waht use is Forex in ur Dom to you in Nigeria if you intend to invest in Nigeria?
I'm going by ur statement.

rusher14:


That's how I get paid for services I render.

Now, having this forex does little for me other than rise as the Naira plummets.

Being a concerned citizen, I would rather have a situation where that money can be used locally to build up local capacity in any form. Of course such a venture must be profitable itself.

Like any salary account for instance, does little for the account holder other than safe keeping. If that money isn't invested to yield some returns the only profiteers would be the banks.

erico2k2:

you just answered my question
According to your 2nd line,Forex does nothing to yo as a Nigerian living in Nigeria
But for me as a nigerian living in Diaspora it does a lot.I transfer my savings into my Dom account in Nigeria so however and when ever i deem fit to come to Nigeria, I can withdraw the forex at competitive rates more so ** I'm doing it at my own time*Why would a sane govt tell me how and when I need to use my MONEY

rusher14:


I think this is a storm in a teacup.

Nobody has told anyone what to do with their funds.

In the papers in the modern world all manner of statistics are churned out daily.

An observation has been made by the CBN.

Obviously, any wise thinking government would, especially in this particular case, think if I have 27 Billion dollars in my coffers and my citizens have 20 billion dollars at the same time, and we are in dire straits, how can I get them to invest in the system? full stop.

Nobody has made any statement asking anyone to forfeit his/her funds.

In fact, any reasonable government would look to see how they can get you to bring in even more Forex.

I don't understand why or how this is a problem.

menxer:


The bolded makes sense to me, as domiciliary account don't get paid interest (or does it?). any business transactions it is supposed to pay for would have been finalized within that period else it's kept for speculation or out of fear which drives the vicious cycle we are in.

lozanni:
Blaming these Nigerians with the $20 billion domicilliary accounts is counter-productive as this can cause them to move those funds to foreign banks like countless Nigerians in business, the academia and politics who own many foreign accounts.
The Government should work to achieve long term stability in the exchange rate between the naira and other convertible currencies so that these Nigerians can have the full confidence to keep their earnings in naira.
The Government can borrow the $20 billon in the domicilliary accounts through issuance of dollar denominated treasury bills, with income far above the current rate earned by domicilliary accounts in Nigeria, wnhich will be guaranteed by major banking groups, like the Paris group of bankers, to guarantee the safety and viability of funds to the owners of the domicilliary accounts.
Commandeering the funds, like Argentina did, will have serious long term negative consequences on the economy because the human memory is very long and the Super-rich will not forget this in a hurry as many of them are still lamenting the effect SAP under IBB had on their assets and naira account balances, hence the decision by many of them to hold domicilliary accounts till the present day.

bigass123:
He was in China on vacation

erico2k2:

Now this is an adult talking

teemy:


Could you please talk more on the argentina thing and SAP actions. Thanks

teemy:


Could you please talk more on the argentina thing and SAP actions. Thanks

erico2k2:

How about if I plan to save forex for 10 years?

menxer:


You need a forex savings account which i bet a domiciliary account is not.

erico2k2:

I use the word *Saving* but not meant as in savings account.
let me rephrase it,
how about if I want to deposit forex in my Dom account for up to 10 yrs

rusher14:


Seun, why would the government want to restrict the inflow of cash from abroad?

In fact, isn't that what they are attempting to encourage?

The only thing I gained from this expose is that the government is concerned that such idle money isn't being put to use locally and wonder how they might encourage this.

menxer:


On second thought and after doing a little research I realized you sure could, which in the end is a catch 22 for our economy.