As the Nigerian naira slumped further against the United States dollar in the foreign exchange market, the exchange rate for computing import duties at the nation’s seaports has increased by 3.5 percent.
The Central Bank of Nigeria raised the Customs FX duty rate from N1,327.35/$ to N1,373.646/$ on Tuesday, April 30, according to the information obtained from the official trade portal of the Nigeria Customs Service.
Read also: CBN raises Customs FX duty rate for cargo clearance by 14%
This represents a 3.5 percent increase in rate compared to the old rate of N1,327.35/$ used for the opening of Form M and an increase of N46.296 on a dollar needed to clear goods at the port.
What this means is that importers opening Form M today will require more money to pay import duties than those who opened Form M on Monday with a lower exchange rate for cargo clearing.
According to data from the FMDQ, the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) rate showed that the naira weakened to N1,419.11 per dollar in the official exchange market.
The development, industry experts, are putting intense pressure on businesses especially manufacturers that depend on importation to bring in critical production inputs.
They said the unpredictable state of the exchange rate for cargo clearing at the port is not helping importers and manufacturers who now find it difficult to plan.
“Businesses need stable foreign exchange rates and stable exchange rates for clearing goods at the port to be able to plan and also break even. Today, businesses are receiving punches from both sides, forex rate is high and volatile, and in the same light, FX rate for clearing goods at the port is also high and volatile,” said Tony Anakebe, a Customs licensed agent.
Read also: CBN hikes Customs FX duty rate by 11.1% as naira slumps
He blamed the volatile FX rate for computing imports for the long lull in the volume of imports into the country.
