The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have again raised the foreign exchange rate used to calculate customs duty on imported goods from N1, 537.073 to the dollar that it was two days ago, to N1,605.82 to the dollar.
The new increase represents an effective increase of 4.5 percent on import duty in two days. It is the sixth time that the Federal Government has import duties this year.
The frequent upward review of exchange rates for computing import duties has continued to raise concerns among Nigeria’s business community with the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, calling for caution.
“Calculating import duty using a rate that is different from the rate in Form M will cause a serious business challenge that results in losses. Worse still, it directly fuels the inflationary spike, which is the basis of the increasing cost of goods and living. Such arbitrary charges will lead to further closure of businesses, and attendant job losses. This is because at the time of the initiation of the business, calculations, including duties, have been made based on the prevailing exchange rate,” Obi said.
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