In the face of dipping oil prices – Nigeria’s official exchange rate has slumped over 20 per cent in the last year to about 198 naira for a dollar, according to Thomson Reuters’ data. In a bid to defend its currency, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in June blocked imports of 41 items, including private jets, toothpicks and rice.
CNBC Africa used rice from the list as a case study to examine the impact of this policy almost two months after it was implemented.
Rice was selected as it is Nigeria’s top staple food and according to Akinwumi Adesina, who will become Africa Development Bank’s President In September and was Nigeria’s former agricultural minister, the country spends over 350 billion naira annually importing rice. Read full at: http://nairametrics.com/has-nigerias-ban-on-rice-imports-worked/