The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is set to include wheat on the list of items restricted from official forex allocation, Checkout Magazine learnt.
Wheat’s flour is used to make bread, noodles, pasta, biscuits (cookies), semolina and some beverages like wheat beer and Malted milk.
This new development means that any firm that requires imported wheat for its operation will seek alternative source of forex after the imposition of the restriction by the apex bank.
The CBN said at the weekend that $2 billion is spent annually to import wheat, thereby depleting the country’s foreign reserves.
According to the apex bank, only one per cent (about 63,000 metric tonnes) of wheat out of the five to six million metric tonnes (MT) of wheat consumed in Nigeria is produced locally.
To fill the gap, the CBN plans to jump start a massive local production of wheat.
Director, Development Finance Department at the CBN, Mr. Philip Yila Yusuf, told a wheat conference and stakeholders’ engagement in Abuja at the weekend.
“Wheat is the second highest contributor to the country’s food import bill putting pressure on the country’s foreign reserve”.
Yusuf said the apex bank’s intervention had become critical due to rising local demand for wheat and the inability to meet that demand.
