Thailand aids efforts to pressure Nigeria on curbs

Thailand has teamed up with the European Union, the US, Norway and Japan to pressure Nigeria to lift its foreign currency restrictions on 41 imports, saying Thailand’s exports have felt the pinch from the move.

During a recent meeting of the Council for Trade in Goods under the World Trade Organization, Thailand raised the issue in discussions with some WTO members including the EU, Norway, the US and Japan, said Duangporn Rodphaya, directorgeneral of the Foreign Trade Department. All sides agreed that the restrictions do not comply with the commitments given by Nigeria to the WTO, she said.

The restrictions have also started hurting countries exporting to Nigeria, said Ms Duangporn.

“While trade representatives from Nigeria defended such bans as being temporary measures that would be revised to be compliant with the country’s WTO commitments, we are closely monitoring the issue,” she said.

The Central Bank of Nigeria in June 2015 excluded importers of 41 goods and services from accessing foreign exchange at Nigerian foreign exchange markets to encourage local production of those items.

Nigerian authorities say the move was further intended to sustain foreign exchange market stability, ensure the efficient use of foreign exchange and ensure that optimum benefits are derived from goods and services imported into the country.

The items include rice, cement, margarine, palm products and vegetable oils, meat and processed meat products, vegetables and processed vegetable products, poultry (chicken, eggs, turkey), private aeroplanes/jets, Indian incense, tinned fish, cold rolled steel sheets, galvanised steel sheets, roofing sheets, wheelbarrows, head pans, metal boxes and containers, enamelware, steel drums, steel pipes, wire rods, iron rods and reinforcing bard, wire mesh and steel nails.

According to the Commerce Ministry’s statistics, two-way trade between Thailand and Nigeria amounted to US$236 million (8.14 billion baht) in 2016, down by 67.8%. Of the total, exports from Thailand fell 67% to $188 million and imports totalled $48 million, dropping 70.3%.

In the first three months of this year, two-way trade fell by 53% to $40.8 million, with exports from Thailand down 16.3% year-on-year to $38.7 million.