"As part of its responsibility to ensure price stability, the CBN will boost liquidity in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market by interventions from time to time," the CBN said.
The Central Bank of Nigeria CBN) on Thursday announced that it has restored the 43 items prohibited from access to the foreign exchange (FX) window in 2015.
The decision comes eight years after the items were banned from the official Fx windows.
The new development was disclosed in a statement signed by Isa AbdulMumin, the CBN's director of corporate communications.
In 2015, the CBN restricted the availability of foreign exchange to the importation of 43 items that could be locally produced within the country.
"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," the apex bank said Thursday.
It added that consultation is ongoing with market participants to achieve the goal of unifying the Fx rates.
It noted that it will continue to promote orderliness and professional conduct by all participants in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market to ensure market forces determine exchange rates on a Willing Buyer- Willing Seller principle.
"As part of its responsibility to ensure price stability, the CBN will boost liquidity in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market by interventions from time to time.
"As market liquidity improves, these CBN interventions will gradually decrease," the CBN said.
Blacklisted items
In June 2015, the Central Bank announced that some 41 items were "Not Valid for Foreign Exchange" because they could easily be produced in Nigeria rather than being imported into the country.
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, tomatoes/tomato paste, soap and cosmetics, and clothes.
Other items include private airplanes/jets, Indian incense, tinned fish in sauce, cold rolled steel sheets, galvanized steel sheets, roofing sheets, wheelbarrows, head pans, metal boxes/containers, enamelware, steel drums and pipes, wire mesh, steel nails, wood particle boards, and panels.
Equally affected were security and razor wire, wood particle and fiber boards and panels, wooden doors, furniture, toothpicks, glass/glassware, kitchen utensils, tableware, tiles (vitrified, ceramics), textiles, wooden fabrics, plastic/rubber products, polypropylene granules, and cellophane wrappers.
The apex bank subsequently added fertilizer and maize/corn to the list of banned items.
The CBN's decision to lift the ban on the 43 items signifies a major step in resolving the country's forex crisis.
Over the past four months, the naira has depreciated by over 50 percent at both the authorized and unauthorized market segments, after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced in June that it had collapsed all forex windows into the Investors and exporters (I&E) window.
The move, according to the apex bank, is part of the Nigerian government's efforts to improve liquidity and stability in the market and attract foreign investors into the Nigerian economy.
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Although the policy was widely applauded as well-intentioned and necessary, it has put additional pressure on the local currency and manufacturers, with ripple effects on domestic prices.
On Wednesday, the Naira depreciated further against the United States dollar at the unofficial market.
According to information gathered from currency traders across the country, the local currency was exchanged at N1,030 per $1. The rate represented a N5.00 depreciation from N1,025 per $1 rate it was exchanged in the previous session on Tuesday.
Traders who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES attributed the market reaction to the scarcity of dollars in the market.
"We are currently buying at N1,030 per dollar and it may go higher than this because there is no dollar in the market," a Bureau De Change operator who gave his name as Aliyu told PREMIUM TIMES.
