CBN lifts ban on 43 items after eight years.
State Correspondent
The Central Bank of Nigeria has lifted the foreign exchange restrictions it placed on importers of 43 items prohibited from access to the foreign exchange (FX) window in 2015.
In a statement signed by CBN’s Director of Corporate Communications, Dr. Isa AbdulMumin, the bank said this is a significant change to the foreign exchange market policy.
According to the central bank, this action will boost liquidity in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market and intervene from time to time, stating that interventions will decrease as liquidity improves.
Recall that in a circular in June 2015, the CBN published a list of imported goods and services that will not be eligible for foreign exchange in the Nigerian foreign currency market. The list which was originally 41 was updated to include two more items.
The items include: Rice, Cement, Margarine, Palm kernel, Vegetable Oils, Palm oil products, 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.
Others are; 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
“Importers of all the 43 items previously restricted by the 2015 Circular referenced TED/FEM/FPC/GEN/01/010 and its addendums are now allowed to purchase foreign exchange in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market,” CBN said.
