Exporters losing 75% revenue to unfriendly policies

Merit Ibe

The Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) has disclosed that the Federal Government’s monetary policy, continued border closure, high duty rates and other challenges  have led to loss of about 75 per cent revenue to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) involved in export of made-in-Nigeria products.

The association said the development was  currently threatening the country’s export of made-in-Nigeria products. The Executive Secretary of the association, Eke Ubiji, disclosed that local manufacturing firms/SMEs had suffered losses in their export operations following scarcity of forex, border closure and other challenges nationwide. He said many of them could not export goods already earmarked for that purpose because of volatility in exchange rate of naira .

Ubiji said affected SMEs that are NASME members had besieged the association’s secretariats in Lagos to complain that they were currently facing difficulties in securing forex at the official inter bank rate.

According to him, the forex crisis, coupled with other challenges, have brought about uncertainty in the export market, adding that some operators complained that they were in court with some banks over defaults in loan repayments and debt servicing, thereby exposing their properties and investments to possible sell-off by the banks.

“Yes, a lot of our members in the export segment of the Nigerian non-oil export sector are facing  challenges now in the country because of the daunting economy.

“Let me give you an example, some of them in the pharmaceutical industry, if they import raw materials, they are expected to pay 20 per cent or above as duty rates at the ports before they are allowed to clear their consignments. But if they import drugs, it’s duty free.

So the major problem has been forex. “And when you talk about packaging problem, this is also as a result of the increased in a lot of things going on in the economy now.

He added: “I can tell you outright, yes, forex is a big problem for those of them who need foreign exchange in the export of their products abroad, because they can’t get it easily in the banks at the official rate at the moment.”