CBN insists 43 non-eligible items remain banned from forex

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that the ban it placed on 43 items that are not eligible for foreign exchange introduced by its suspended Governor, Godwin Emefiele is still in place.

This is coming after the apex bank recently made operational changes to activities in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (FX) market.

It also added that the items are not to be funded with forex from the Investors and Exporters’ (I&E) window.

The apex bank disclosed this at the weekend in the Q&A document published on its website, where it explained new operational changes to the FX market.

The report titled “Understanding the Operational Changes to the Foreign Exchange Market”, said, “The status quo remains on the 43 non-eligible items. The items are not permitted to be funded from the Investors and Exporters’ (I&E) window”.

The apex bank had in 2015, released a circular, detailing the 41 imported goods and services from accessing the official FX market.

It had continued to modify the list by including more items and in 2020 added maize/corn, a widely consumed staple food in 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, ggalvanised teel sheets, roofing sheets, wheelbarrows, head pans, metal boxes/containers, enamelware, steel drums and pipes, wire mesh, steel nails, wood particle boards, and panels among others.

Emefiele in 2017, explained that the ban will remain because it had led to remarkable success in domestic production of goods and services.

He said, “Given the remarkable success that has been achieved in stimulating domestic production of goods such as rice, cassava, and maize, as a result of the restriction placed by the CBN on access to forex for these items, the CBN intends to vigorously ensure that this policy remains in place and additional efforts will be made to block any attempts by unscrupulous parties.

“I mean both individuals and corporates that intend to find other avenues of accessing forex, in order to import these items into Nigeria.”