FULL LIST: CBN lifts ban on 43 items after eight years

The Central Bank of Nigeria has finally lifted the foreign exchange restrictions it placed on importers of 43 items eight years ago, The PUNCH reports. In a statement signed by CBN’s Director of Corporate Communications, Dr. Isa AbdulMumin, the bank said this is a significant change to the foreign exchange market policy. According to the central bank, this action will boost liquidity in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market and intervene from time to time, stating that interventions will decrease as liquidity improves In a circular in June 2015, the CBN published a list of imported goods and services that will not be eligible for foreign exchange in the Nigerian foreign currency market. The list which was originally 41 was updated to include two more items. Below is the list of the items: Rice Cement Margarine Palm kernel Palm oil products Vegetable oils Meat and processed meat products Vegetables and processed vegetable products Poultry and processed poultry products Tinned fish in sauce (Geisha)/sardine Cold rolled steel sheets Galvanized steel sheets Roofing sheets Wheelbarrows Head pans Metal boxes and containers Enamelware Steel drums Steel pipes Wire rods (deformed and not deformed) Iron rods Reinforcing bars Wire mesh Steel nails Security and razor fencing and poles Wood particle boards and panels Wood fiberboards and panels Plywood boards and panels Wooden doors Toothpicks Glass and glassware Kitchen utensils Tableware Tiles-vitrified and ceramic Gas cylinders Woven fabrics Clothes Plastic and rubber products Polypropylene granules Cellophane wrappers and bags Soap and cosmetics Tomatoes/tomato pastes Eurobond/foreign currency bond/ share purchases