BOM To Cap FX Spreads

So concluded Manou Bheenick in an interview to L'Express. That's excellent news for exporters which complain of not getting good enough FX rates from their banks. It's also long overdue for the small consumers given how wide the spreads have been recently.

I am starting to like 2012.

Central Bank Suspects Market Manipulations

So said a communique issued by the Bank of Mauritius. The Central Bank is not happy with the way the forex market functioned on some days last month and has hired Insight Forensics Ltd to investigate the matter.

The bank has also invited anybody who can help the investigation to get in touch by e-mail.

Dealing in USD Notes Improves Marginally

4 short days after, the difference between the best and worst deal to sell USD has collapsed by 21% (Rs250) to Rs928. That's because Shibani is giving 25 cents more for each of your dollars. And that has reduced its spread, still the largest on that BOM's page though, by 150bps to 7.87%.

Standard Bank still has the best deal for your dollars while Forex Direct will get more dollars for your rupees. The latter has also joined Africa's biggest bank as the place with the smallest spreads.

Best Places To Deal in USD Notes

If you wanted to sell USD1,000 yesterday then you should have headed to Standard Bank which was offering Rs32.68 for each dollar. That would have put Rs1,178 more in your pocket than if you had visited a Shibani Finance Foreign Exchange counter (we are assuming there are no service charges or that they are the same across dealers).

If you were into buying a thousand bucks instead then it would have been wiser to bring Rs34,080 to Forex Direct. If you wanted to buy them at the MPCB they would have cost you Rs870 more.

Standard Bank had also the smallest spread on USD notes: Rs1.63. Shibani had the largest at almost Rs3.

You can access all the rates in one page from the BOM's website.

Isn't this something l'ACIM or the ICP should have on a blog everyday to help citizens? The Competition Commission should also track the spreads to bring them within international levels.

Shiva Asks America to Settle Ecological Debt