Nigeria’s global inflation rate grew by 16.5% at the end of June, revealed indicators released by the National Statistics Office. This is the country’s highest inflation level in the past 11 years (2005), according to data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Nigerian analysts relates the increase to the devaluation of naira, which made it more expensive to access the currency and subsequently increased factor costs for various economic value chains in the country. Introducing flexibility in the management of currency reserves after an 18-month freeze led to dollar soaring to N285 on the official market and N345 on the black market.
In its latest forecasts, IMF revealed a risk of contraction for the economy, a first in two decades.
On July 26, 2016, CBN’s monetary policy committee is to hold a meeting to decide on the measures to take concerning the monetary policy. Besides agriculture-based food products, Nigeria’s consumption is highly dependent on imports; Naira’s slump thus forces all economic actors to adjust, rapidly.
Idriss Linge