NOTWITHSTANDING the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) placing sugar in its restriction list of foreign exchange, the country imported N385 billion worth of the commodity in the first half of 2022.
According to a report by Trade Data Monitor (TDM), within the period, the price of sugar rose from $397 to $443 per tonne in one month, with the N385 billion spent on the importation of 965,000 metric tonnes of brown sugar between January to June.
The CBN had in April 2021, placed sugar in its FX restriction list, which prevented importers of the commodity from obtaining foreign currencies from the official foreign exchange market. This leaves traders to depend on the black market for dollar and other international currencies.
Forex in the parallel market is more expensive, with dollar exchanging at N645, while the United States greenback sells for N430 in the official foreign exchange market.
“Sugar and Wheat to go into our FX restriction list. We must work together to produce these items in Nigeria rather than import them,” CBN wrote on its official Twitter account.
The FX restriction list had been introduced in 2015 to support local production and weaken importation of foods as well as other goods that could be produced within Nigeria.
NaijaTimes gathered that the foreign exchange restriction list was also meant to improve foreign reserves and increase availability of FX for goods not produced in Nigeria, and other businesses.
“In the continuing effort to sustain the stabillty of the foreign exchange market and ensure the efficient utlllsation of foreign exchange and the derivation of optimum benefit from goods and services imported Into the country, it has become imperative to exclude importers of some goods and services from accessing foreign exchange at the Nigerian foreign exchange markets In order to encourage local production of these Items,” the Nigerian apex bank stated.
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