In the first half of this year, H1’24, the number of automobiles imported into the nation dropped precipitously by 60.4% year on year to 10,991, indicating the effects of the depreciating naira and the overall economic slowdown.
This was mentioned in the report of the Nigerian Port Consultative Council’s, or NPCC, recently ended quarterly meeting.
The report stated,
The decline came at a time when the CBN recently issued a guideline urging the Nigeria Customs Service to apply the closing foreign exchange rate in the official window for import duty calculations in response to concerns regarding uneven import duty assessment levies.
In line with this pattern, the Vanguard reported that the number of ships calling at the country’s seaports decreased by 4.3% YoY, from 275 in H1’23 to 251 in H1’24.
The gross tonnage of ships increased 6.9% to 32.614 million metric tons in H1’24 from 30,504, 276 in H1’23, despite the decline in vessel calls.
The report added,
Between January and June of this year, 398,447 containers were handled, which is 2.3 percent more than the 389,303 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) handled in 2023.
TimesNow.com.ng reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced a new exchange rate for calculating customs import duties at the nation’s ports and airports.
Customs duties are taxes and levies imposed on imported goods.
The duties are paid through a commercial bank to the Nigeria Customs Service, which collects them on behalf of the federal government.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
