text: 41 Banned Items: Nigerian Government to Dump CBN's Forex Policy ~ The Nigerian Blawg
  Home » Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Foreign Exchange (FX) , Govt & Administration » 41 Banned Items: Nigerian Government to Dump CBN's Forex Policy
  By Legalnaija 7:12 AM
  Recall that earlier in the year, the Central Bank of Nigeria ("CBN") banned 41 items from access to the Official Foreign Exchange Market. The items include the following:
  4. Palm kernel/Palm oil products/vegetables oils
  33. Tiles-vitrified and ceramic
  37. Plastic and rubber products, polypropylene granules, cellophane wrappers
  39. Tomatoes/tomato pastes
  40. Eurobond/foreign currency bond/ share purchases.
  It appears the Nigerian government have reconsidered their position on this subject and would reverse the policy which many have argued did more harm than good to the Nigerian economy. In the space of 8 months, the Nigerian Naira, the official currency of the country has lost more 250% of its value, trading at NGN485/$1 from NGN199/$1 that it traded for in the first quarter of the year.
  The plan is contained in the newly released 2017 Fiscal Policy Roadmap. The policy document prepared by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, will, instead, come up with fiscal measures to reduce pressure in the parallel market. According to the document, the FG "will replace administrative measures on list of 41-items with fisca measures to reduce demand pressure in parallel market." The plan of the Nigerian government is to address barriers to growth that will drive productivity,generate jobs and broaden wealth-creating opportunities to achieve inclusive growth".
  It is generally thought that the initial policy of the CBN to restrict access to foreign exchange for the importation of these items from the official foreign exchange market created a major business barrier and encouraged activities in the foreign exchange parallel market, which led to a wide gap existing between the official value of the Naira and its parallel market value. While the CBN values the Naira at NGN305/$1, it is exchanged at NGN485/$1 at the parallel market. It is hoped that this proposed change will free the market from regulatory chokehold and encourage investments and businesses.