NEWS ANALYSIS: CBN is on the right path, By Kayode Oyedeji
Some of the 43 items on the Restricted list are supposed to be on the Prohibited List. It is not the responsibility of CBN to enforce ban on importation of toothpicks or any item. It is the work of border police.
The focus of that policy is on essential food and building items. Government wants more supply of those items to force the price down and reduce inflation, especially in the short term.
Government also wants big volume of transactions on rice, cement, iron, maize etc to be done within government regulation and planning.
The policy will also lead to less activities in the burgeoning black market and improve general FX liquidity. Obviously, government wants to reduce smuggling and loss of government revenue.
Meanwhile, we have never stopped using FX to buy these restricted commodities. The FX used has been coming from Nigeria’s black market. The same economy. So, it has little impact on our real, actual trade position.
A bag of rice in Niger is N25,000 equivalent, government perhaps wants that efficiency and price advantage transferred to Nigeria to bring down the price of rice in Nigeria while we intensify our drive for food sufficiency.
The ban on importation of grains has caused problems in the livestock business, leading to increase in the price of egg and poultry products. In due course, prices of livestock products, a major source of protein will reduce.
The key thing is while the CBN is pursuing price and foreign exchange stability, government does not relent in its self-sufficiency drive.
