It’s shameful to import toothpick, fish, eggs, sugar, wheat – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday said that importers of rice, cement and other products will no longer access Foreign Exchange from CBN, banks and bureaux de change for such importation.

The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja, said the measure would prevent further depletion of the country’s foreign reserve.

He said the country was spending huge amount to import things that could be produced locally, adding that the apex bank would not continue to support the importation of such items through the use of the hard earned foreign exchange.

Some of the products include margarine, palm kernel, palm oil products, meat and processed meat products, vegetables, private airplanes and jets, Indian incense, tinned fish, galvanised steel sheet, roofing sheet and furniture.

He said: “Importers who may want to continue importing these goods would have to sort their foreign exchange from their own private sources. The CBN will continue to be vigilant around this policy, keep reviewing the list of items as it becomes comfortable that these items can be produced locally if we apply ourselves sufficiently.

Emefiele said the CBN was forced to come up with the new policy to exclude importers of rice and 40 other items from the foreign exchange market in order to save the nation’s economy.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja, he said the time has come for Nigerians to decide what must be done to realise the much-desired economic development, rather than making the nation a dumping ground for other economies of the world.