Textile material is the latest product to be restricted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from accessing its foreign exchange, which was done to improve the demand of local textile within the country.
The CBN stopped importers of textile and textiles materials from accessing its foreign exchange like the apex financial institution did to forty-one other products on its FX restriction list.
The restriction on textile importation was announced by the Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele during a meeting with textile manufacturers, and cotton farmers at the bank’s headquarters, in Abuja.
With immediate effect, Emefiele directed banks and the Bureaux de Change to stop selling foreign exchange to such importers, adding that discouraging textiles import was key to revamping the local industry.
CBN’s plan for textile producers in Nigeria
In a bid to encourage textile producers and support production, the Central Bank announced that operators in the industry would be granted loans at single-digit interest rates, as part of the renewed intervention.
It was also disclosed that the loans granted to the operators by the Bank of Industry (BOI) would be restructured to ease their repayment terms.
More food items to be banned
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele stated that there is a need to add to the 42 food items placed on the list in order to save foreign exchange operations in Nigeria. He briefly reiterated the importance during his tour of the Dangote refinery and fertilizer project in Lekki, Lagos State.
The CBN had issued a forex restriction on selected food items back in 2015, to control Nigerians’ demand for hard currency dollar at a time when the recession was hitting hard and the economy was struggling.
CBN FX restriction list
Nairametrics had reported that the CBN had modified the list of 41 banned items excluded from the official foreign exchange market. The CBN reportedly reinstated 36 raw materials that were removed from the official foreign exchange window in May 2015.