CBN slashes Customs FX duty rate to N1,246.665 per dollar

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given a reprieve to importers with a further slash in the exchange rate for calculating Customs duties at the nation’s seaports by 1.1 percent.

Information obtained from the official trade portal of the Nigeria Customs Service revealed that the apex bank slashed the Customs FX duty rate from N1,260.49/$ to N1,246.665/$ on Monday, April 8.

This equals about a 1.1 percent reduction in rate when compared to the old rate of N1,260.49/$ used for the opening of Form M as of Friday, April 5, and a decrease of N13.825 on a dollar needed to clear goods at the port.

The slash in exchange rate for paying import duty is coming on the back of continuous appreciation of the naira in the foreign exchange market with the naira trading at N1,251.05/$ at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on April 5.

What this means is that importers opening Form M today Monday, April 8 for importation will have some measures of relief in terms of the money required to pay import duties compared to the importer who opened Form M on Friday, April 5.

Using the Form M exchange rate to calculate import duties is in line with the apex bank’s new directive that Customs should be using the rate on the date of submitting Form M for calculating import duties.
Meanwhile, there are expectations that the FX rate will witness further decline as the naira grow stronger even as the apex bank plans to sell $15.88 million to 1,588 eligible Bureau De Charge (BDC).

CBN also reviewed the exchange rate for BDC operators to N1,101 per dollar from N1,251/$1.