Nigerian businesses large and small are beginning to feel the impact of the current dollar shortage and devaluation in the black foreign exchange FX market according to an article from Businessday.
The cash deposit restrictions placed on Nigerians operating domiciliary accounts has also meant most traders have been unable to order for goods as quickly as before. Businessday interviewed an importer in Balogun market whose depiction of the effect of some of these policies will resonate across most smaller importers.
Solomon Ndubuisi, a dealer in imported female bags and shoes, in a downtown Lagos market known as Balogun.
“I used to be able to easily send money to the U.S for my partner to ship my goods down,”
“The CBN daily withdrawal limit of $300 has changed all that now and I have to wait for up to three weeks to gather a reasonable sum. The black market rates are expensive and we can’t really increase prices because customers are not buying as much anymore.”