The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has adjusted the exchange rate for cargo clearance from N783/$ to N952/$ representing a 22.8% increase.
Checks by Nairametrics on the federal government’s single-window trade portal of the customs service revealed that the prior exchange rate of N783.17 to the USD has been reviewed upward to N951.94.
The Nigeria Customs Service imposes duties before imported cargoes are cleared from the ports. These fees range from 5% to 35% as determined by the harmonized commodity and coding system (HS code).
The custom service generates revenues from these fees and other tariffs accruing to it. In the first six months of this year, the service reported an average collection of N202 billion monthly from these tariffs and levies.
Backstory
In November, nairametrics reported an increase in the exchange rate for customs tariff collection from 757.023/$ to N783.174/$- a N26.15 increase.
This current increase marks the second in just over one month and moves closer towards the exchange rate of the parallel market.
Nairametrics reported that the naira yesterday closed at N951.22 to the USD on the official market with an Intra-day high of N1159.10/$1. This represented a 15.19% decline when compared with the rate as reported the day before.
Nigeria’s currency problem
Nigeria has been battling an exchange rate crisis since the Central Bank unified the exchange rate market in June and allowed market forces to determine the value of the naira. Since then, the naira has lost over 100% of its value trading on average at N460/$ before the CBN’s policy in June.
The apex bank has a reported backlog of around $7 billion and the Governor, Yemi Cardoso has stated that clearing the backlog is the short-term priority of the team.
It was reported last month that the CBN has begun the clearance of some of its backlog and popular soap maker PZ Cussons confirmed that it had begun cash repatriation to its holding company abroad.
