The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Friday, announced a reduction in the exchange rate for computing import duty at the nation’s seaports by 5.3 per cent.
The reduction is coming barely 48 hours after importers and clearing agents operating at the nation’s seaports complained that the Customs exchange rate rises higher than official foreign exchange market rate of the naira and the United States Dollar which is being used for international trade.
Former acting President, Association of Nigerian Licenced Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr Kayode Farinto, had earlier bemoaned the fact that the unstable exchange rate is not beneficial to the import/export sector of the economy. He further urged the apex bank to embrace quarterly predictive exchange rate.
“I have given technical advice that we should have a predictive foreign exchange rate for Customs purposes so that whether the dollar is going up or down, there won’t be adjustment on the Customs platform. That means for the next quarter there will be a specific Customs FX rate but this current fluctuation is not helping our economy because what we have now is not inline with world bank criteria.”
A check on the Customs exchange rate via the Nigerian trade hub portal revealed that the exchange rate for cargo clearance has reduced to ₦1,260.49 from ₦1,330.36.
Subsequently, importers that opened Form M, on Wednesday, will pay less to clear their cargoes as import duties are benchmarked against the dollar.
Also, importers will open Form M at a lower rate compared to those who opened Form M on Friday, 5th April, 2024 according to the apex bank’s new directive to Customs to use the rate on the date of submitting Form M for calculating import duties.
Join our WhatsApp community via https://goquick.ly/cj8q2 for instant and latest news updates.