Importers cite uncertainty as import duty FX rate raised to N1,560.5/$

Barely three days after the Customs’ exchange rate for calculating duties at the seaports was reduced to N1,544.081/$, it has been reviewed upward to N1,560.511/$.

The 1.1 per cent upward review was reflected on the official trade portal of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) yesterday.

The authorities had on March 4 reduced the import duty rate from N1630.159/$ to N1,544.081/$.

Importers opening Form M will have to pay more to clear their goods as the import duties are benchmarked against the dollar.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive to Customs is to use the rate on the date of submitting Form M for calculating import duties.

The Public Relations Officer of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria, Taiwo Fatomilola, decried the volatility of the cargo clearance foreign exchange rate, saying it has serious consequences for businesses.

He said the duty exchange rate has become a critical policy that has serious implications for international trade in the country.

“They have forgotten that with the rate the exchange rate is going, it will kill importation. With a working capital to buy goods and at the point of clearing, the price is high, how do you recoup the money to go back to the market? How do you sell it, what is the buying rate of Nigerians, what is their strength? There is going to be a multiplying effect on every product sold in Nigeria,” he stated.

An importer, Amos Uchenna, said the instability of the duty exchange rate impacts trade volume, prices and investments.

The Head of the Customs and Trade Facilitation Committee of the Importers Association of Nigeria (IMAN), Ajanonwu Vincent, said the continuous upward adjustment of the duty rate and the Federal Government over taxation especially of import trade to generate more revenues is abnormal in a sane business environment.

“When a government believes in over-taxation and applies desperate fiscal policies to actualise them to the detriment of the citizens, massive revolt and consequent revolution might not be ruled out,” he said.