By Obinna Nwachukwu
Central Bank’s Director, Corporate Communications, Dr Isa AbdulMumin on Thursday in Marrakech announced the lifting of import restrictions on 43 items
AbdulMumin also announced that Importers of all the 43 items previously restricted in 2015 are now allowed to purchase foreign exchange in the Nigerian FX market.
Market watchers sai said with the development, prices of commodities are bound to come down once the new imports start to arrive Nigeria.
They therefore advised those hoarding these commodities to quickly sale them to customers or be ready to lose
The CBN action is in reaction to the continuous weakening of the Naira against the dollar and other currencies at both the official and parallel forex markets
As at the close of work on Thursday the Naira exchanged to the dollar at N1,030/ USD and N775/ dollar at the parallel and official market windows respectively
Below is the full list of the items as announced by the CBN
- Rice
- Cement
- Margarine
- Palm kernel
- Palm oil products
- Vegetable oils
- Meat and processed meat products
- Vegetables and processed vegetable products
- Poultry and processed poultry products
- Tinned fish in sauce (Geisha)/sardine
- Cold rolled steel sheets
- Galvanized steel sheets
- Roofing sheets
- Wheelbarrows
- Head pans
- Metal boxes and containers
- Enamelware
- Steel drums
- Steel pipes
- Wire rods (deformed and not deformed)
- Iron rods
- Reinforcing bars
- Wire mesh
- Steel nails
- Security and razor fencing and poles
- Wood particle boards and panels
- Wood fiberboards and panels
- Plywood boards and panels
- Wooden doors
- Toothpicks
- Glass and glassware
- Kitchen utensils
- Tableware
- Tiles-vitrified and ceramic
- Gas cylinders
- Woven fabrics
- Clothes
- Plastic and rubber products
- Polypropylene granules
- Cellophane wrappers and bags
- Soap and cosmetics
- Tomatoes/tomato pastes
- Eurobond/foreign currency bond/ share purchases