Federal Government raises import duties on luxury goods, food items that have local alternatives

Finance Minister Mrs Kemi's Adeosun

"This is to confirm that Mr. President has approved the 2016 fiscal policy measures made up of the Supplementary Protection Measures (SPM) for implementation together with the ECOWAS CET 2015 – 2019 with effect from 17th October, 2016."Consequently, all transactions prior to the effective date of this circular shall be subjected to the tariff rates applicable before the coming into effect of this 2016 fiscal policy measures."It added that the approved SPM was in line with the provision of the ECOWAS CET comprising the following:“An Import Adjustment Tax (IAT) list with additional taxes on 173 tariff lines of the extant ECOWAS CET; national list consisting of items with reduced import duty rates to promote and encourage development in critical sectors of the economy; an import prohibition list (Trade), applicable only to certain goods originating from non-ECOWAS member states."
   Contained in the Circular of The Minister of Finance to the Nigeria Customs Service.Also affected are some food items that have local alternatives such as rice, salt and sugarcane, alcoholic spirit, beverages.Import duty for sugar cane and sal