43 Items Can Now Access Foreign Exchange As CBN Lifts Ban (See Full List)

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has lifted the ban on 43 items imposed under the Godwin Emefiele CBN era.

This was disclosed in a circular by the apex bank released on 12 October 2023.

According to the apex bank, it will also boost liquidity in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market and intervene from time to time, stating that interventions will decrease as liquidity improves.

Below is the press statement signed by Isa AbdulMumin PhD, Director, Corporate Communications

1. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) 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.

2. The CBN reiterates that the prevailing Foreign Exchange (FX) rates should be referenced from platforms such as the CBN website, FMDQ, and other recognised or appointed trading systems to promote price discovery, transparency, and credibility in the FX rates.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. The CBN is committed to accelerating efforts to clear the FX backlog with existing participants and will continue dialogue with stakeholders to address the issue.

6. The CBN has set as one of its goals the attainment of a single FX market. Consultation is ongoing with market participants to achieve this goal.

Participants and the general public are to be guided by the above.

What this means

The decision of the central bank to lift the ban on 43 items signifies a major step in resolving Nigeria’s forex crisis as most of the 43 banned items include a list of imports that were not allowed access to forex from official sources since 2015.

However, some of the items remain on the ban list of customs.  Despite this, most critics of the former central bank have called for the central bank to lift the ban citing the negative impact this could be having on the black market.

FULL LIST OF AFFECTED ITEMS

1. Rice
2. Cement
3. Margarine
4. Palm kernel
5. Palm oil products
6. Vegetable oils
7. Meat and processed meat products
8. Vegetables and processed vegetable products
9. Poultry and processed poultry products
10. Tinned fish in sauce (Geisha)/sardine
11. Cold rolled steel sheets
12. Galvanized steel sheets
13. Roofing sheets
14. Wheelbarrows
15. Head pans
16. Metal boxes and containers
17. Enamelware
18. Steel drums
19. Steel pipes
20. Wire rods (deformed and not deformed)
21. Iron rods
22. Reinforcing bars
23. Wire mesh
24. Steel nails
25. Security and razor fencing and poles
26. Wood particle boards and panels
27. Wood fiberboards and panels
28. Plywood boards and panels
29. Wooden doors
30. Toothpicks
31. Glass and glassware
32. Kitchen utensils
33. Tableware
34. Tiles-vitrified and ceramic
35. Gas cylinders
36. Woven fabrics
37. Clothes
38. Plastic and rubber products.
39. Polypropylene granules
40. Cellophane wrappers and bags
41. Soap and cosmetic
42. Tomatoes/tomato pastes
43. Eurobond/foreign currency bond/ share purchases

Eighteen-Eleven Media