The President of the Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Dele Oye, has insisted that the duties collected by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) should be charged in Naira rather than in a foreign currency.
Oye stated this in response to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive on the use of foreign currency collateral for Naira loans.
Oye, who said the association is still unclear about the Fiscal Policy objectives of the recent directives by the CBN, noted that while the monetary policy directives have resulted in calming the markets, the activities continue to be guided without a complementary Fiscal policy direction.
According to him, “We are still unclear about the Fiscal Policy objectives being pursued through these monetary policy directives. This directive is one of many in the public domain, and our position is to treat them equally.”
Oye continued: “In our 28th March 2024 letter with ref No NCC/NP/ 22/23/1267 to the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, we drew the attention of the Honorable Minister to the vacuum created by the anticipated report of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal and Tax reform, which is yet to be presented to the organized private sector in April 2024 (the 4th month of the year).
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“As explained, most business and investment decisions are anchored upon Fiscal and Monetary policy expectations. For this reason, we strongly reaffirm and advocate for the timely release of the 2024 Fiscal Policy.
“We decline to respond or be distracted by piecemeal bulletins or press releases on monetary policy when we don’t have regulatory authority guidance on critical ingredients like inflation rate target, government debt policy, currency printing (quantitative easing) target, or interest rate policy.”
The NACCIMA boss, however, noted that the association is determined to draw attention to the issue for many reasons, including that the “recent monetary policy directives have resulted in calming the markets; however, activities continue to be guided without a complementary Fiscal policy direction.
“For example, a 24.75% interest rate will not increase local investment in agriculture and manufacturing. We agree it mopped up liquidity, but what is the objective?
“We still appeal and insist that all bonafide government transactions must be in the sovereign currency of Nigeria.
“The Nigerian Customs service must collect the national currency of Nigeria. NCS must stop collecting duties using the United States Dollar rate. The uncertainty has been devastating for many manufacturers and businesses.
He added, “We respectfully urge the esteemed office of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Coordination to expedite the release of the Presidential committee report.”