The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), once again, slashed the Customs exchange rate for cargo clearance from N1448.386/$1 to N1,405.466.
NATIONAL ECONOMY reports that recent slash came barely 48 hours after the apex regulatory bank slashed the Customs exchange rate from N1,572.507/$1 to N1448.386/$1.
The slash represents 2.96 per cent reduction or differences of N42.92 between the new and the old prices. To this end, importers that opened Form M, on Wednesday, will pay less to clear their cargoes as import duties are benchmarked against the dollar.
Also, importers will open Form M at a lower rate compared to those who opened Form M on Friday, March 23, 2024, according to the apex bank’s new directive to Customs to use the rate on the date of submitting Form M for calculating import duties.
It was gathered that the naira has continued to gather momentum in the official and parallel market. The CBN, on Monday, issued a circular to Bureau de Change operators, indicating that they have provided each BDC with $10,000 at an exchange rate of N1,251 per US dollar.
In the circular, each Bureau de Change was instructed to offer dollars to qualified customers at a rate that does not surpass 1.5 per cent above the buying price.
This indicates that Bureau de Change are advised not to sell above N1,269 for each $1.
“We refer to our letter to you referenced TED/DIR/CON/GOM/001/071 in respect of the above subject wherein the CB approved a second tranche of sale of FX to eligible BDCs. We write to inform you of the sale of $10,000 to each BDC at the rate of N1,251/$1. The BDCs are to sell to eligible end users at a spread of NOT MORE THAN 1.5 per cent above the purchase price.”
