Obinna Chima

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday
officially stopped the sale of dollars for a list of 40
items as it seeks to reduce pressure on the naira
as well as preserve the country’s external
reserves.

These items include rice, cement, margarine, palm
kernel/palm oil products/vegetable oil, meat and
processed meat products, vegetable and
processed vegetable products, poultry –chicken,
eggs, turkey - private airplanes/jet, Indian
Incense, tinned fish in sauce - Geisha/Sardines,
cold roiled steel sheet and galvanised steel
sheets.

Others are roofing sheets, wheel barrows, head
pans, metal boxes and containers, enamelware,
steel drums, steel pipes, wires, rods, wire mesh,
steel nails, security and razor wire, wood particles
boards and panels, wood fiber board and panels,
plywood boards and wooden doors.

In addition, sourcing of forex for the importation of
toothpicks, glass and glassware, kitchen utensils,
tables, textiles, woven fabrics, clothes, plastic and
rubber products, soap and cosmetic, tomatoes/
tomato paste and Eurobond/foreign currency
bond/share purchase.

The central bank disclosed this in a circular
signed by its Director, Trade and Exchange
Department, Mr. Olakanmi Gbadamosi, which was
posted on its website last night.

It explained that: ”These items are not banned,
thus importers desirous of importing these items
shall do so using their own funds without any
recourse to the Nigerian forex market.”
It advised all authorised dealers to ensure strict
compliance with the directive.

“In the continuing effort to sustain the stability of
the forex market and ensure the efficient utilisation
of forex and the derivation of optimum benefits
from goods and service imported into the country,
it has become imperative to exclude importers of
some goods and services from accessing foreign
exchange at the Nigerian foreign exchange market
to encourage local production.

“The implementation of the policy will help
conserve forex reserves as well as facilitate the
resuscitation of domestic industries and improve
employment generation,” it added.

I wish they can stop sales of dollars for everything imported, as long as they won't be banned.

#BuyNaijaToGrowNaija

It seems razor blade is not on the list. Tiger (made in Czech). Nigerians must have imported 100 billion units of the blade since they began production!