The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on its removal of the restrictions on 43 items previously banned and the decision to raise dollar supply to meet the demand pressure.

President of the association, Michael Olawale-Cole, said the commitment of CBN to offset the forex backlog as part of the measures to address the current FX challenge plaguing the market was noteworthy and would hopefully address the challenges being faced by businesses presently.

“This policy change is expected to reduce the demand pressure on the parallel market and ensure a gradual convergence in FX market rates.  The LCCI particularly appreciates this stand to promote orderliness and professional conduct by all market participants to ensure market forces determined exchange rates on a willing buyer-willing seller principle.”

He added that over the years, they have consistently expressed concerns about the restrictions in the FX market and its consequences on the divergence of the rates. He said the policy is a market-friendly step towards truly unifying the exchange rates and is expected to curtail inflationary pressures in the short term.

He went on to recommend that the CBN adopts creative financing options for clearing the short to medium-term backlog and establish a mechanism to address FX unification under the current system. “The authorities must pursue the right monetary policy reforms to improve the investment climate and boost investor confidence. We call on the CBN to ensure transparency and accountability in banks’ FX dealings at the investors and exporters windows,” he said.