The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it deal decisively with any financial institution that deny access to Forex by small and medium-scale enterprises.

Fielding questions with journalists on the sidelines of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund spring meetings in Washington DC, United States, the CBN spokesperson, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, advised anyone being frustrated by commercial banks to report with evidence to the CBN.

He vowed that the bank would take necessary action and apply sanctions on errant institutions, where necessary.

He added, “It has become necessary that we bring to your notice the complaints from customers, especially those who operate in the SME segment of the market, that banks are frustrating their efforts at getting forex.

“You will recall that recently we introduced a window to be able to give forex to SMEs, which incidentally are the engine of growth in our economy, for them to be able to obtain a small amount of forex that suits their businesses and we have received complaints now that banks are frustrating

He noted the apex bank has resisted calls from financial institutions to float the naira, saying it cannot kill Nigerians in the name of floating the currency.

According to him, the CBN committed to ensuring access to forex by the drivers of the economy.

Okorafor said the call to liberalise the foreign exchange market by floating the naira was laughable.

He said, “The call here in Washington that we should float the naira, liberalise the market – our market is extensively liberalised – and the call to float the naira is a bit laughable in our case.