Nigerians are expected to heave a sigh of relieve as prices of goods are expected to go down in the local market because the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reduced exchange rate for computing import duty on cargoes imported into the country through the nation’s seaports and airports for the seventh time in two weeks.
The exchange rate has moved from N1,364/$1 on Thursday, 28th March, 2024 to N1,303/$1 on Friday, 29th March, 2024.
The Friday’s reduction, however, represented 19.2% or N309 between March 15th to 29th, 2024.
The reduction LEADERSHIP gathered was firstly, on the 15th of March 2024, as the it was reduced to N1,612/$1 while on the 16th of March 2024, it was reduced to N1,593/$ anf on the 19th of March 2024, it was reduced to N1,572/$.
On the 23rd March 2024, it was reduced to N1,448/$; while on the 26th of March 2024 it was N1,405/$ and Thursday, 28th March 2024 it was reduced to N1364.879/$1 and on Friday, it was reduced to N1,303 /$1.
To this end, importers that opened Form M, on Wednesday, will pay less to clear their cargoes as import duties are benchmarked against the dollar.
Also, importers will open Form M at a lower rate on Friday 29th March, 2024 compared to those who opened Form M on Thursday, 28th March, 2024 according to the apex bank’s new directive to Customs to use the rate on the date of submitting Form M for calculating import duties.
