In addition to issuing a new circular listing 41 items now designated as “Not Valid for Forex”, the CBN has once again issued another circular.
In the latest circular, the CBN has clarified that in addition to the Interbank Market, importers cannot access forex from export proceeds or the BDC. This essentially means small businesses who import items included in that list have essentially been thrown to the sharks of the parallel market essentially putting products which many Nigerians depend on at risk of being expensive or scarce.
The parallel market has not been declared illegal officially as it provides a proxy measure of the value of the dollar against the Naira in a market that is highly regulated and controlled by the CBN. However, this move suggest an indirect way of rendering the parallel market ineffective and unattractive as a source of purchasing forex.
