Citing need to encourage growth of the textile and cotton industry, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on Tuesday announced the restrictions of sale of foreign exchange to importers of textiles and other clothing materials with immediate effect.
Speaking during a meeting with stakeholders in the cotton value chain in Abuja, the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, explained that henceforth, banks and dealers in the foreign exchange market are prohibited from selling forex to those seeking to import textiles and clothing materials.
According to him, discouraging textiles imports was key to revamping the local industry.
He also said that operators in the sector would be granted loans at single-digit interest rates, as part of the renewed intervention. In addition, the loans granted the operators by the Bank of Industry would be restructured, to ease their re-payment terms.
Meanwhile, the Naira on Tuesday gained 50 kobo to exchange at N358 to the dollar at the parallel market in Lagos, stronger than N358.5 traded on Monday.
The Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N470 and N408, respectively.
At the Bureau De Change (BDC) window, the naira traded at N360 to the dollar, while the Pound Sterling and the Euro closed at N470 and N408, respectively.
Trading at the investors segment saw the naira closing at N360.77 as market turnover stood at 91.66 million dollars.
