The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has finally lifted the foreign exchange restrictions it placed on importers of 43 items eight years ago.
The apex bank made this known in a statement on Thursday, saying that as market liquidity improves, the interventions will “gradually decrease”.
In the statement, signed by Isa AbdulMumin, CBN’s director of corporate communications, the regulator pledged to continue to promote orderliness and professional conduct by all participants in the foreign exchange market to ensure market forces determine exchange rates on a willing buyer and willing seller principle.
“The CBN reiterates that the prevailing Foreign Exchange (FX) rates should be referenced from platforms such as the CBN website, FMDQ, and other recognised or appointed trading systems to promote price discovery, transparency, and credibility in the FX rates,” the statement reads.
Some of the affected items include
- Rice
- Cement
- Margarine
- Palm kernel
- Palm oil products
- Vegetable oils
- Meat and processed meat products
- Vegetables and processed vegetable products
- Poultry and processed poultry products
- Tinned fish in sauce (Geisha)/sardine
- Cold rolled steel sheets
- Galvanized steel sheets
- Roofing sheets
- Wheelbarrows
- Head pans
- Metal boxes and containers
- Enamelware
- Steel drums
- Steel pipes
- Wire rods (deformed and not deformed)
- Iron rods
- Reinforcing bars
- Wire mesh
- Steel nails
- Security and razor fencing and poles
- Wood particle boards and panels
- Wood fiberboards and panels
- Plywood boards and panels
- Wooden doors
- Toothpicks
- Glass and glassware
- Kitchen utensils
- Tableware
- Tiles-vitrified and ceramic
- Gas cylinders
- Woven fabrics
- Clothes
- Plastic and rubber products
- Polypropylene granules
- Cellophane wrappers and bags
- Soap and cosmetics
- Tomatoes/tomato pastes
- Eurobond/foreign currency bond/ share purchases!
The lifting of the ban means that importers of these items can now freely purchase forex from the official window at ‘cheaper rates’.
