Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has disclosed that it will deny foreign exchange (Forex) for importation of more items at both commercial banks and the apex bank levels.
Emefiele stated this in Abuja at the opening of a two-day retreat for ministers’ designates and top government officials at the Presidential Villa on Monday.The President has directed the CBN to stop giving foreign exchange for food imports into the country,which is in the logic of CBN management’s foreign exchange policies that we started since 2016.
According to him,they are forty-one foods and non-food items which can be produced in the country.“If we have a food item that could be produced in the country, why should we waste scare foreign exchange importing those items into the country, when those can be produced in the country?.”
The directive made by the president would not affect the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) Nigeria just signed into, Emefiele said it would not affect its content because the AfCFTA is an ongoing agreement which terms of engagement are still being discussed and negotiated.
The governor further stated that more items would get on the list in due course, as long as they could be produced locally.
Emefiele said, “I will say that we will aggressively go more into the list of items that are being imported into the country; items that can be produced in Nigeria.
Join our twitter community :
