The Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms has recommended an exchange rate of N800 per dollar Customs import duty rate for the rest of the year.
This move will be a huge departure from what it is currently, where Customs duty is changed erratically, sometimes twice a day, with total changes effected so far this year at about 40 times.
Also, the value has followed the sharp swings in the exchange rate on the foreign exchange market with a wide range of between N900 and N1,700 to one US Dollar this year alone, a situation that has attracted widespread condemnation across business sectors.
Chairman of the committee, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed the new direction yesterday while speaking on the activities of the tax panel in Lagos.
The tax expert, a former partner at PwC Nigeria, said that the frequent changes in the import duty rate adopted by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) due to the volatility of the foreign exchange (FX) market do not allow for adequate planning by businesses. His words: “When we did the budget, we said naira to the dollar would be N800; now, it is way more than N1,000. People need to plan. So now, we are saying to the government, can you please sign an order that says for the purpose of paying import duty, we shall use N800 for the rest of the year till December. So, we have proposed N800.”
