The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the discontinuation of its foreign exchange (FX) Price Verification System (PVS) portal used by importers.
This decision was disclosed in a statement on Thursday by W. J. Kanya, the acting director of the trade and exchange department of the CBN.
The PVS portal, introduced in August 2023, was mandatory for all Form M requests, which are documents used to declare the intention to import physical goods into Nigeria.
The move was initially aimed at streamlining and verifying the pricing of imported goods to ensure accurate valuation and to curb over-invoicing and other fraudulent activities.
However, according to the latest statement, importers will no longer need to use the PVS portal to validate Form M applications starting from July 1, 2024.
“We refer to the circular dated August 17, 2023, referenced TED/FEM/PUB/FPC/001/008 and titled ‘Price Verification System Portal’ on the deployment of the Price Verification System (PVS),” the statement reads.
“Given recent developments in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market, the CBN hereby discontinues the Price Verification System (PVS).
“Consequently, with effect from July 01, 2024, all applications for Form ‘M’ shall be validated without the Price Verification Report generated from the Price
