CBN slashes Customs FX duty rate by 5.3% as naira stabilises

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has further slashed the exchange rate for computing Customs duties at the nation’s seaports by 5.3 percent following the stability in the exchange rate of naira to the dollar.

The Customs FX duty rate was reviewed downward from N1630.159/$ to N1, 544.081/$ on Monday, March 04, 2024, according to information obtained from the official trade portal of the Nigeria Customs Service.

This represents a 5.3 percent reduction when compared to the old rate of N1630.159/$ used as of Friday, March 2, 2024, and a decrease of N86.078 on a dollar needed to clear goods from the port.

Reacting, Tony Anakebe, an industry analyst, said the CBN needs to stabilise the FX rate for Customs duty evaluation to reduce the economic impact of paying a high tariff on businesses.

According to him, there is a lull at the port as importers are no longer finding the business environment favourable due to high import duty and fluctuating FX rates for duty calculation.

BusinessDay reports that the apex bank last week, issued a new directive to Customs to use the rate on the date of submitting Form M for calculating import duties.

With the slash, importers opening Form M today Monday, March 4, 2024, for import trade, will have a little relief in terms of the money that would be used to pay import duties compared to the importer who opened Form M last week.