The Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has again raised the exchange rate for cargo clearance to N1,605 per dollar.
This is coming days after the rate was raised to N1515 per dollar and later dropped to N1,472.
The rate between January and now has risen a couple of times.
Earlier, the rate was moved from N952 per dollar in December 2023 to N1356 per dollar. It was also moved to N1,413 per dollar before it went to N1,444 per dollar. The rate moved to N1,515 before finally getting to N1.605.
The new rate has now been reflected on the portal of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS.
When the rate was raised to N1,356 per dollar, a member of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Remilekun Sikiru said, “How do we explain this? From N952 per dollar to N1,356 per dollar as of Friday morning with about N404 increase? It’s quite unfortunate that the prices of goods and commodities will automatically increase. Importation would further decrease and depreciate, vehicle prices would skyrocket again.
“Since this unification of a thing, the government has refused to look inward and critically into the maritime industry as regards importation and exportation. The sector has been neglected and things are getting worse daily. The question now is, how would freight forwarders and customs brokers agents cope with this new rate?”
Also speaking, an agent, Ben Anya, said that they woke up to the new rate, which he said was before now, set at N951 per dollar.
Anya explained that with the latest increase in the exchange rate, the cost of clearing would increase.
“And this would also affect the cost of goods in the market. It would also lead to a drop in importation,” he said.
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