The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) announced a drop in the exchange rate for clearance of goods and import duties assessment.
Gatekeepers News reports that the current exchange rate is now N1,238.17 to the USD, representing a decline of N6.14 in the past two days. It is noteworthy that this rate is lower than the official market rate of the NGN to the USD, which closed at N1,248.5/$ on the official NAFEM window yesterday.
This consistent drop in the Customs exchange rate in the past few weeks is a result of the recent strengthening of the naira and the impact of the CBN reforms since the beginning of the year on the value of the naira in the forex market.
To further strengthen the value of the naira, the CBN has taken several measures, including doubling down on its efforts to sell forex to Bureau De Change (BDC) operators at N1,101/$ and instructing them to sell at a 1.5% spread. This measure would make BDCs sell forex at N1.117/$, which is significantly below the official market rate on the NAFEM window.
In addition, the CBN has instructed banks to avoid using foreign currencies denominated collaterals for naira loans, except for Euro bonds by the Federal government or guarantees of foreign banks such as Letters of Credit. However, banks have been provided with a 90-day window to wind down all existing loan collaterised in USD apart from the exceptions mentioned.
