FX restriction: CBN to blacklist firms importing 43 banned items

Motolani Oseni

Any company found to be violating the import policy regime on restricted 43 items from the official foreign exchange (forex) window will be henceforth blacklisted, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed.

The governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, on Friday disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari recently gave the new directive, as well as encouraged the apex bank to provide support for producers of crops and other commodities with export potential.

The Presidential the directive may not be unconnected to smuggling of the affected items by some companies into the country in violation of the subsisting restrictive order by the monetary and fiscal authorities.

Confirming the presidential order during a meeting with oil palm producers in Abuja, the governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, explained that the apex bank had been mandated to sanction any company and their principal officers engaging in smuggling of the restricted items into the country.

In addition, he said that the directive also mandated the apex bank to broaden the scope of funding support support to entities and individuals that planned to boost the production of some commodities and by so doing, enhance the nation’s non-oil export earnings.

Emefiele listed the items as rice, maize, cassava, tomatoes, cotton, oil palm, poultry, fish, livestock dairy and cocoa.

It would be recalled that recent government’s efforts to boost the nation’s foreign exchange earning potential had been focused on agro-based productive activities with an emphasis on export-orientation of such engagements.

Indications that the policy efforts are yielding the desired result were reflected in the nation’s non-oil exports earnings in 2018.