Editorial: Can Customs Advice CBN on Exchange rate calibrations for good?
At a time the leadership of CG Wale Adeniyi is driving trade facilitation and corporate rebranding of the Service, the CBN has once again, increased the exchange rate used for calculating Customs duties at the seaports in the country.
Details from data from the official trade portal of the Nigeria Customs Service, the exchange rate was adjusted upwards on Monday, February 12th, from 1,417.635 Naira per US dollar to 1,444.56 Naira per US dollar.
The Customs duty rate has been raised by 1.9 percent today. This adjustment marks the fourth time this year that the apex bank has made changes to the rate
As a result, importers and manufacturers who rely on the country’s seaport to bring in essential production materials will be required to pay a higher amount to facilitate the customs clearance of their goods, as import duties will be set according to the value of the dollar.
Furthermore, it indicates a surge of N26,925 and a percentage surge of 1.9 percent, which falls below the official CBN exchange rate of N1,481.982/$ as of Monday morning, February 12, 2024.
With this development, who can blame Nigerians for routing their trade via ports of neighbouring countires?
