Forex: CBN Maintains Ban On 41 Items

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reiterated that it has not lifted the forex ban on 41 items rather the ban is still in force.
The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele stated this in a statement  issued in Lagos,  after receiving the personality of the  year award from Vanguard Newspaper last weekend.
Emefiele urged Nigerians to support the policy as its variants have proven to be highly effective in the other climes and even in the country.
The CBN boss pointed out that the  policy was basically borne out of necessity to conserve foreign exchange, stressing that the calls from certain quarters for reversal of the policy is quite saddening given the nature of rise of nationalist and populist sentiments worldwide.
He stated that throughout the early days of South Korean economic renaissance, the government intermittently, used excessively stiff tariffs quantitative  restrictions and prohibitive inland taxes to effectively ban many items with potentials for high imports and simultaneously offered generals  and subsidized loans to firms for export promotion causes.
He emphasized that the policy in Nigeria has been used to achieve significant sufficiency in cement, a  product whose importation could have been costing the nation huge amount in foreign reserve annually.
Emefiele explained that the CBN is determined through its willingness, determination and  capacity to meet all Nigerians legitimate foreign exchange forex demands.
He said that the nations’ apex bank would not sit idle and watch faceless criminals destroy the nation’s currency, threatening to make forex speculatars lose their money if they continue to undermine the regulatory authority.
He called for support for the CBNs’ policy on foreign exchange.