<\/p>\n
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has slammed the Federal Government economic policies.<\/p>\n
According to the chamber,\u00a0 private operators have lost about N1.46tn as a result of the foreign exchange constraints being experienced in the country over the last six months.<\/p>\n
This is coming just as the Federal Inland Revenue Service has hinted the citizens will pay higher taxes from next year as a means of shoring up the nation\u2019s revenue.
\nThe LCCI, in its 2015 economic review, said its third quarter 2015 business environment survey showed that a forex restriction by the Central Bank of Nigeria was one of the costliest policies in Nigeria in recent years.<\/p>\n
The Director-General, LCCI, Mr. Muda Yusuf, in a statement on Sunday, said, \u201cThe private operators across several sectors (fast-moving consumer goods, steel, furniture, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing) lost about N1.46tn in stalled business activities resulting from paucity of forex over the last six months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics, he noted that the country\u2019s real Gross Domestic Product fell to 2.84 per cent in the third quarter of 2015, compared to 6.23 per cent in the same period in 2014.<\/p>\n
Sectors such as manufacturing and the services slipped into recession after recording successive declines over the last three quarters in 2015, the LCCI said.<\/p>\n
The group noted that the CBN had, in response to dwindling receipts from oil export, adopted several measures such as the closure of Retail Dutch Auction System window, restriction of cash payment into domiciliary accounts and prohibition of 41 items from accessing the interbank foreign exchange market.<\/p>\n
It expressed concern about the state of the economy and the effects of the CBN\u2019s policies on the operations of manufacturing firms and other private businesses.<\/p>\n
It said, \u201cThe CBN\u2019s administrative allocation of foreign exchange signposted much deeper challenges for investors and the economy. As of December 18, 2015, premium at the parallel market reached a record level of 35 per cent against the official exchange rate as the naira crashed further to 270\/$ in the parallel market.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe LCCI and the business community are very concerned about the current state of the economy and the consequences of the CBN\u2019s approach to the management of foreign exchange market over the last few months. We have previously engaged the CBN and other authorities through several forums to draw attention to the implications of forex policies on businesses and the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has slammed the Federal Government economic policies. According to the chamber,\u00a0 private operators have lost about N1.46tn as a result of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n