CBN Mulls Restrictions of More Items from Forex Market

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN,has said it may increase the list of items excluded for funding from the official foreign exchange (forex) market.
This is coming as the apex bank seeks to reduce pressure on the naira and preserve the country’s external reserves. CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, revealed this during over the weekend.
The CBN recently restricted importers of 41 items from accessing forex at the official foreign exchange market. Some of the items include toothpicks, rice, wheel barrows, head pans, cement, margarine, palm kernel/vegetable oil, meat and processed meat products, vegetable and processed vegetable products, poultry, private airplanes/jet, Indian incense and tinned fish in sauce (Geisha/Sardines), among others.
According to the central bank, the restriction was also designed to facilitate the resuscitation of domestic industries and improve employment generation.
Although some of the affected importers and members of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) have continued to kick against the policy, Emefiele said: “The truth is that as long as we find that there are more items that can be produced locally, I can assure you that we would increase the list.
“We are not saying that those 41 items cannot be imported, but we are saying that we don’t have the foreign exchange for you at the banks or at the interbank market for these.
He stressed that before the central bank decided to place the items on the exclusion list, it carefully thought about them, did its research and came to the conclusion that the affected items could be produced in Nigeria.