Nigeria central bank policy on FX restriction on 41 items cuts down rice imports

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy restricting foreign exchange on 41 items including rice has cut down rice import drastically in the last two years, according to data from the Thai Rice Exporters Association, which indicated that rice exports from Thailand to Nigeria fell by over 90 percent from 2014-2016.

The development, therefore, led to mass production of rice locally, which mitigated against an expected huge increase in the local price of rice.

Analysts say the Thai data testifies to CBN’s policy’s effectiveness and that if that could be replicated across many other products flooding Nigeria’s shores the country would be better for it.

Equally, the fallout of the policy is that rice farmers’ incomes grew significantly while many more jobs were created directly in the sector and indirectly across related value chains.