CBN May Remove Hand Sanitisers From FX Items

The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Godwin Emefiele announced that the bank is reconsidering adding the importation of hand sanitizers amongst items not valid for foreign exchange (FX) from its official forex window.

He said this while speaking at the ‘Going for Growth 2.0,’ roundtable that took place in Abuja.

Emefiele said that most of the hand sanitisers seen in the country since the outbreak of the coronavirus were imported.

Emefiele said: “It is naira that we pay to buy sanitizers, rather than using dollars to import sanitizers from China. And I’m sure, as you all expect, that very soon, the sanitizer will get into the list of items that are banned.”

Earlier in his address, Emefiele had said addressing domestic and external challenges to growth required input from critical stakeholders who could generate great and workable ideas and solutions.

“We must all work together in order to harness the true potential of our nation. This one-day roundtable session will address some of the measures needed to drive double-digit growth rate in Nigeria.

“These include, improving productivity in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors. Second, how to develop funding models that would support improvements in the quality of our energy and transport infrastructure.

“Third, how Nigerians operating in the creative industries space, such as ICT, can expand and capture the value of their works while creating jobs and generating export revenues for our nation,” he added.

The final conclusion at the meeting was, however, presented to President Muhammadu Buhari, at the end of the summit.