Tag Archives: Importers

Vehicle importers shun Nigerian ports over ‘Undue bureaucracy’ – ANLCA

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The Chairman of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu, has blamed the Nigeria Customs Service for why vehicle importers shun the nation’s ports.

 

“Tell Nigerians the truth,” Shittu said while reacting to the recent ban on vehicles importation through land borders in Asaba, Delta State at the weekend.He said importers avoid the nation’s ports because of undue bureaucracy in the operations of the customs.

 

Shittu stated that the poor condition of the nation’s ports and the disparity in freight charges on imports, which is very high, has made the seaports unattractive.Due to this, he said neighbouring countries are living on the nation’s economy by developing their ports and making them conducive for importers.

“Government and the customs should stop the bureaucracy in ports operations,” he stressed.He expressed disappointment that over 10,000 vehicles meant for Nigerian ports are now trapped at the borders with neighbouring countries because of the ban by the government.

 

Instead of the hasty decision, the customs service should advise the Federal Government to wait until modern facilities are provided in our ports, which would make them attractive to importers, he said.

 

Source: Guardian

Buhari: FG Will Punish Banks, Importers Caught Round-tripping

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President Muhammadu Buhari has said that banks, importers and individuals involved in round-tripping of dollars they buy from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) official market and resell in the parallel market will be made to face the law when caught.

The president gave the warning in an interview monitored on Al Jazeera television at the weekend.

Forex round-tripping or arbitrage refers to a process whereby funds obtained from the official forex market (at lower rates) and diverted to other markets and sold at a higher rate by forex dealer, banks and end users.

There has been strong suspicion that some banks and other end users that get weekly forex allocations from the CBN divert some of the dollar cash to the parallel market because of the wide gap between the official and parallel markets.

In his response to a question on alleged round-tripping in the forex market, the president said: “I agree with you, but we are going to check that and we are going to apply sanctions to anybody that is given dollars by the central bank for the importation of essential raw materials, for example pharmaceutical products, and because he can make N100 more, goes to the parallel market to sell it. We will pursue them and obviously would punish them.”

The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele, recently said the central bank was on the lookout to penalise banks found in such unhealthy practice.

He also warned that if any bank was caught in the act, it is not just the institution that would be penalised, its management would also be severely punished.

Continuing, Buhari reiterated his stance against the devaluation of the naira, maintaining that “countries that play around with their currencies are countries that have enormous production capacity”.

“They have factories in place, they have infrastructure in terms of power, and their communications and security are actually perfect,” he said.

According to him, Nigeria virtually imports everything, from rice to toothpicks, adding: “If we don’t have the money for importing those things, what is the value in further devaluing the naira?”

He pointed out that in terms of the country’s exchange rate policy, national interest supersedes the interest of multilateral agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Credit: Thisday

“NNPC To Become Sole Importer Of Petroleum Products” – Godwin Emefiele

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PAYMENT of subsidy on fuel importation and Foreign Exchange (FOREX) differentials on bank loans granted to marketers by the Federal Government are to end soon.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said the government was doing everything to ensure that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) become sole importer of petroleum products.

Members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) have been on a running battle with the Federal Government over subsidy claims running into several millions of dollars.

But Emefiele said President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the NNPC to cut down on importation by reactivating the four refineries and ensuring they function at installed capacities.

Speaking in an interview with Financial Times of London, the CBN chief said: “The President came on board and said that we will work very hard to reduce importation of petroleum products by ensuring that our refineries work. Our refin­eries are working now.

“The Warri and Port Harcourt refineries have started producing. They have not obtained the optimal capacity but they will. The Kaduna refinery will start working this month.

“Now, there are other actions that the Presidency is putting in place to ensure that we reduce importation of petroleum products where the NNPC will solely, almost solely be responsible for procuring refined petroleum.

 ”Those who are importing petroleum products will only just need to go to the NNPC and pick up petroleum products.

“So, in that area, I would say that we are already moving in the direction of reducing the import of pe­troleum products. And we will achieve it.”

On the efforts being made by the President to recoup stolen oil revenues believed to have been deposited in foreign banks, Emefiele said the issue was still being looked at, assuring that “as the Central Bank, we will also assist in drilling them once we get to that stage, and we will be happy to have that money back because it will improve our reserves”.

Buhari set to bar marketers from importing fuel

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The Buhari-led government is set to bar marketers from importing fuel while ensuring that only the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) imports petroleum products.

 

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele revealed this in an interview with Financial Times of London recently.

 

“The president came on board and said that we will work very hard to reduce importation of petroleum products by ensuring that our refineries work. Our refineries are working now. Warri and Port Harcourt have started producing, they have not obtained the optimal capacity but they will. Kaduna refinery will start working this month.

 

 

“Now, there are other actions that the presidency is putting in place to ensure that we reduce importation of petroleum products where the NNPC will solely, almost solely be responsible for procuring refined petroleum so those who are importing petroleum products will only just need to go to the NNPC and pick up petroleum products.

 

“So in that area I would say that we are already moving in the direction of reducing the import of petroleum products. And we will achieve it,” Emefiele said.

 

On the president’s efforts to recover stolen oil monies deposited in banks, Emefiele said “as the central bank, we will also assist in drilling them once we get to that stage, and we will be happy to have that money back because it will improve our reserves.”

 

Speaking on Buhari’s order that revenue-generating agencies operate a Treasury Single Account, the CBN boss explained that, “once they receive the revenues, the revenues must come to the centre, and that means those revenues will come to the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

 

“We had instances where some of those revenues were trapped outside the central bank. The president came on and he insisted that all revenues come to the centre and that’s what we are saying, and it’s the reason why you are seeing some improvements in the reserves position,” he noted.

 

 

Emefiele also commented on the gap between the parallel market and the inter-bank rate.

 

“The gap is closing and I imagine that foreign investors should be happy that we are doing everything possible to close the gap. Based on that, they will believe us when we say that the parallel market is a shallow market, and that there is no need to use the parallel market as the benchmark for determining the real value of our currency.”

 

-NAN

Finance Minister Pays Importers As City Petrol Queues Grow

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Finance ministry has paid importers 156 billion naira ($790 million) to cover subsidy payments owed from 2014, it said on Thursday, seeking to ease fuel shortages in major cities.

Queues at petrol stations have been growing over the last few weeks and worsened in recent days. A neglected refining system means the country is almost wholly reliant on imports for the 40 million litres per day of gasoline it consumes.

The fuel crisis began in early March when slumping oil prices and an impending general election sent the local currency to record lows, hitting importers who have struggled to open letters of credit with banks. Truckers, unable to discharge tankers, went gone on strike over the cash crunch.

The finance ministry issued Sovereign Debt Notes (SDN) to fuel marketers in March, but banks remained reluctant to issue letters of credit until they matured.

“Even though we had the SDNs, they (banks) never had enough confidence. Now that it has been honoured, they can open L/Cs (letters of credit),” Obafemi Olawore, the executive secretary of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) said.

“We didn’t have the money to place orders and pay contractors, like the truckers … who went on strike.”

The post-dated SDNs of 100 billion naira matured on Thursday, an emailed statement from the finance ministry said, along with an additional 56 billion naira in interest to marketers, which is expected to allow importers to complete their deals.

Oil traders said plenty of product was waiting offshore to discharge but payment uncertainties have held it back.

Despite the payment, another 200 billion naira is still outstanding, which includes foreign exchange from 2014 and 2015 and about 40 billion in subsidies accumulated so far in 2015, Olawore said.

Gasoline is heavily subsidised by the government via the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), and outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan’s own efforts to scrap subsidies in early 2012 caused riots. Slow repayment of subsidies has been a problem for the last few years. ($1 = 198.0000 naira)

Reuters