February 21, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has raised the exchange rate for cargo clearance from N1,472.756/$ to N1,605.82 per dollar.
This is coming barely six days after it adjusted the Customs exchange rate to N1,472.756/$ on Friday.
According to information obtained from the official website of the Nigeria Customs Service, the exchange rate was reviewed upward on Wednesday, February 21, 2024.
With the upward review, Nigerians will pay more to clear their goods at the port because import duties are benchmarked against the dollar.
THEWILL reports that the current upward review of the exchange rate for calculating Customs import duty is the fifth in one month.
It is also the eighth time the apex bank has adjusted the customs exchange rate in the space of eight months since President Tinubu’s administration commenced the floating naira policy, a reform aimed at stabilising the forex market.
The Customs had on June 24, 2023, adjusted the exchange rate from ₦422.30/$ to ₦589/$, and on July 6, 2023, it was adjusted to ₦770.88/$. On November 14, 2023, it was adjusted to ₦783.174/$, while in December it was adjusted to ₦951.941/$. On February 2 it was moved to ₦1,356.883/$ and on February 3, it was raised to ₦1,413.62/$ and adjusted to N1,472.756/$ on February 16.
Reacting recently in an interview, Bisiriyu Lasisi Fanu, former chairman of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents at Seme Border, said the frequency at which the CBN is adjusting the exchange rate has become worrisome, which is why there is so much overtime cargo at the port.
“CBN can’t change the rate and expect the importer, who has made his calculation on what the landing cost and profit will be based on the previous exchange rate, to survive. How do you expect the importer to generate the difference immediately to clear the goods from the port? It is not possible,” Fanu said.
He said the hike in Customs duty through high FX rates will affect all goods in the market because every commodity in the market has imported input in them.
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