The closure of Benin’s land borders with Nigeria since August has resulted in a drastic drop in the country’s rice imports from Asia. Nigeria, one of Africa’s superpowers, closed all its land borders to tackle smuggling of Rice and other goods. Nigeria banned the importation of rice from Benin in 2004 and from all its neighbors in 2016, but that has not stopped the trade. And about 80% of imports into Benin are destined for Nigeria, the bank said. According to the Nigerian maritime site Ships and Ports, in 2014 Benin lowered its tariffs on rice imports from 35% to 7% while Cameroon erased completely the 10% tax.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 15, 2020 16:52 UTC