Reuters is reporting that South African retailer Truworths has decided to exit Nigeria because of the government’s import restriction policy. The South African retail giant also cited high rental cost as another reason for pulling out.
“We were unable to operate the stores properly any longer because we were unable to send merchandise to the stores because there’s regulation preventing that,” Michael Mark told Reuters in telephone interview.
Importers of goods and services across the country are facing a hard time filling up supplies as the scarcity of the dollar and various restrictions aimed at saving the naira. Cost of goods and services have skyrocketed especially for services that are imported.
Some Nigerians are now rushing to fill up their houses with food supplies and other essentials as dollar scarcity reduces their ability buy what they need.
The Central Bank last year banned access to forex from its official window on the back of a forex policy that was aimed at curtailing “irresponsible demand”.
