CBN includes sugar, wheat in Forex restriction list

By Chioma Obinagwam

Nigeria’s central monetary authority, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has added sugar and wheat to the list of items restricted from accessing Foreign Exchange (Forex) for imports.

Confiance News gathered gathered from the official Twitter handle of the bank on Friday.

The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele noted that the rationale for including the two new items in the Forex ban list was to encourage local production.

“Sugar and Wheat to go into our FX restriction list. We must work together to produce these items in Nigeria rather than import them,” The CBN governor disclosed on Twitter.

Confiance News recalls that in 2015, the CBN listed 41 items that had been placed on its Forex restriction list and subsequently in 2020, added maize to the list.

Although the decision made by the CBN has sparked reactions among Nigerians mostly with regards to the timing and capacity of Nigerians to produce enough for local consumption, the governor insists that it will stimulate local production, shore up the country’s Forex reserves and create more jobs.