Director-General, LCCI, Dr Chinyere Almona
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry has once again called for a fixed import duty exchange rate that is below the market rate, which should be maintained for at least six months to aid business planning in the productive sector.
Director-General of the LCCI, Dr. Chinyere Almona, made the observation in a chat with The PUNCH on Monday while reacting to the recent appreciation of the naira in the foreign exchange market.
The LCCI had earlier this year called on the Central Bank of Nigeria to stop the upward review of the customs rate and reverse it to a lower rate for importation.
“This way, importers would be able to charge lower prices for their goods according to what costs they incur on the shipments. In addition, any fixed rate should be held for a specified time frame (e.g., quarterly) so people can plan. An element of predictability for planning purposes is highly desirable,” the LCCI statement partly read.
Speaking on Monday, Almona said, “We reiterate our call for a fixed import duty exchange rate below the official rate and fixed for at least six months. The recent adjustment from N1663.03/USD to N1645.65/USD as of December 3rd is already above the official rate of N1587.29 as of the close of the week.”
The LCCI DG affirmed that the recent gains by the naira against the dollar are an outcome of reforms and frameworks introduced by the CBN to specifically strengthen the naira through improved governance and transparency in the forex market.
“These reforms have created a positive outlook in the market and are also checking the activities of speculators in the parallel market. With more transactions done through regulated platforms like the Bloomberg BMatch Platform and the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System, trading will become more responsive to real market fundamentals and beyond speculations.
“To sustain this gain, the government must work towards providing more liquidity in the forex market. This can be achieved through sustained high production output of crude to earn more dollars, supply more crude to our local refineries, reduce the burden of fuel importation, and generate more forex to defend the Naira even as the reforms are sustained. We must also sustain the implementation of earlier targeted fiscal measures like the import duty waivers and the oil and gas initiatives meant to increase local refining towards a zero-fuel import era.”
Almona maintained that all the “positive actions have to be maintained to have a combined impact on the economy, taking the usual lags into consideration.”
The naira depreciated slightly on the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market on Monday to 1,534.67/$ from 1,533.75/$ on Friday.
The naira appreciated by N137.69 against the United States dollar in the past week, following the introduction of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s new foreign exchange platform.
Data obtained from the CBN’s website on Sunday showed that the closing exchange rate, which was N1672.69 per dollar on Friday, November 29, 2024, rose to N1,535/$ at the end of the week on Friday, December 6, 2024, representing an 8.24 per cent gain.
