The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced plans to revive Nigeria’s textile industry, unveiling measures that will see the development achieved. To this effect, the CBN has placed a restriction on forex access to importers of textiles and other clothing materials into the country. Henceforth, importers of textile and textile materials will not be able to purchase foreign exchange from banks and Bureau de change as well as other operators in the official foreign exchange market.
The announcement was made by the CBN Governor, Mr. Emefiele, at a meeting with textile industry stakeholders which held in Abuja last week.
“Effective immediately, the CBN hereby place the access to FX for all forms of textile materials on the FX restriction list. Accordingly, all FX dealers in Nigeria are to desist from granting any importer of textile material access to FX in the Nigerian Foreign exchange market.”
According to Mr Emefiele, the restriction will boost the domestic textile industry as well as create jobs for Nigerians. He noted that the apex bank would initially support the importation of cotton lint for use in textile factories, with a caveat that such importers will begin to source their cotton needs locally beginning from 2020.
