Ben Murray-Bruce Hails CBN Over Lifting Of Forex Restriction On Rice, Others

A former Bayelsa East Senator, Ben Murray-Bruce, has backed the move by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to lift the ban on the 43 items initially restricted from accessing Foreign Exchange (FX).

Recall that the apex bank, last week Thursday, lifted the ban on 43 items and announced that importers of the items can now purchase forex from the country’s official market.

Some of the items include rice, cement, margarine, palm kernel, palm oil products, vegetable oils, meat and processed meat products, vegetables and processed vegetable products, poultry, tomatoes/tomato paste, soap, cosmetics, and head pans.

Reacting to the development in an X post on Sunday, Murray-Bruce said the financial regulator made the right call to support local production processes in the country.

The former lawmaker added that the move by the apex bank would allow consumers to benefit from more affordable foreign retail products.

He wrote: “I commend the Nigerian Central Bank, @cenbank, on the lifting of foreign exchange restrictions, as this will support local production processes. Also, consumers will benefit from more affordable foreign retail products, and this is why.”

It would be recalled that importers of these items were restricted from purchasing foreign exchange as outlined in the 2015 Circular referenced as TED/FEFPC/GEN/O1/010 and its addendums.

However, with this new policy, importers of such items are now allowed to participate in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market to buy foreign currency for their transactions.