In the continuing effort to sustain the stability of the foreign exchange market and ensure the efficient utilization of foreign exchange and the derivation of optimum benefit from goods and services imported into the country, It has become imperative to exclude importers of some goods and services from accessing foreign exchange at the Nigerian foreign exchange markets in order to encourage local production of these items.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently issue a directive stopping some imported goods and services from the list of items valid for forex in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Markets. This policy implies is that, those who import these items can no longer buy foreign currency from the official window to pay the overseas suppliers. Rather, they will have to source forex from the parallel market or Bureau De Change to pay for their imports.
The items include the following:
- Rice
- Cement
- Margarine
- Palm kernel/Palm oil products/vegetables oils
- Meat and processed meat products
- Vegetables and processed vegetable products
- Poultry chicken, eggs, turkey
- Private airplanes/jets
- Indian incense
- Tinned fish in sauce(Geisha)/sardines
- 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 and reinforcing bard
- Wire mesh
- Steel nails
- Security and razor wine
- Wood particle boards and panels
- Wood Fibre Boards and Panels
- Plywood boards and panels
- Wooden doors
- Toothpicks
- Glass and Glassware
- Kitchen utensils
- Tableware
- Tiles-vitrified and ceramic
- Textiles
- Woven fabrics
- Clothes
- Plastic and rubber products, polypropylene granules , cellophane wrappers
- Soap and cosmetics
- Tomatoes/tomato pastes
- Eurobond/foreign currency bond/ share purchases
