The Federal Government through its apex bank has increased the exchange rate of for cargo clearance in Nigeria to N1,605/$1.
The increase was reflected on the website of the Nigeria Customs Service on Wednesday, February 21.
The development is coming after the cargo clearance exchange rate rose to N1,515 per dollar , then later dropped to N1,472 per dollar earlier this month.
The Nigeria Customs Service portal showed the new exchange rate when News Central visited the website.
The exchange rate has been increased three times since December to date. It was raised from N952 per dollar to N1,356, then to N1,423 per dollar on February 2. It was later raised to N1,444 per dollar, then to N1,515 per dollar, and now to N1,605 per dollar.
According to the president of the Shippers Association of Lagos (SAL), Jonathan Nicole, such rate increases could cause inflation.
“There have been a lot of sad stories as regards doing business in our domain – the maritime sector,” Nicole said.
“The new exchange rate will increase inflation and businesses will be grossly affected, terminating projections before imports.
“The rate will affect the manufacturing sector and goods and services will increase. The cost of transportation will skyrocket.”
The Customs Authority has said it is not responsible for the increase in cargo clearance rates but the central bank.
“The exchange rate is a product of monetary policy, you may wish to contact the relevant body responsible for that,” the agency’s spokesperson Abdullahi Maidawa said.
“We are responsible for implementation of fiscal policy. We don’t determine exchange rate, we only use what is provided to us.”
Cargo Clearance
Cargo Clearance is the process where by an individual/organisation declares goods to the customs authorities of a country. The process is satisfied before importing or exporting commodities into or out of the country.
The goods are subject to clearance by the customs service to ensure that they are safe. It is also to ensure that goods do not pose any form of threat and are not contraband commodities. The cargo clearance exchange rate in Nigeria is the rate at which clearance cost is converted from US dollars to Naira.