Nigeria’s Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Olayemi Cardoso, has projected that Nigeria’s inflation rate would slow down to 21.4% this year, despite the surging prices of most commodities, particularly food items’ prices over the past months.
Cardoso, who made this projection on Tuesday when he appeared before the House of Representatives during the sectoral debate on the economy, lamented the escalating cost of living in the country but noted that the nation’s economy was now better positioned for improved performance than it was before May 29, 2023.
The apex bank governor expressed optimism about the potential of the economy for recovery in view of the sundry reforms of the present administration and the positive outcomes from the various fiscal and monetary initiatives.
In spite of his positive outlook for the nation’s economy’s prospects, Cardoso admitted that the concern over the cost of living by analysts and ordinary Nigerians remained justifiable, saying that the apex bank is working to address the increasingly worrisome situation of the economy, primarily caused by the surging inflation rate.
The CBN Governor said: “Inflationary pressures are expected to decline in 2024 due to the CBN’s inflationary targeting policy aiming to rein in inflation to 21.4 per cent, aided by improved agricultural productivity and easy global supply chain pressures.
“The Nigerian foreign exchange market is currently facing increased demand pressures causing a continuous decrease in the value of Naira”, he added.
Cardoso further told the legislators that the apex bank had undertaken some monetary policy measures to tackle the persistent dwindling value of the Naira at the foreign exchange (FX) markets, stressing that improving the exchange rate of the local currency will require improved exports by the country
According to him, the various policy measures of the apex bank are expected to impact positively on the exchange rate of the Naira in the FX markets with the attendant implications for lower inflation rate in the economy in the near term.
The House of Representatives had last week summoned the CBN Governor and other top government officials to make clarifications on the state of the nation’s economy, particularly as the sustained depreciation of the Naira in the FX markets continued to raise serious concerns locally and internationally.
Others at the debate session on Tuesday were the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Olawale Edun; Minister of Budget and Economic Development, Sen, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; and the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr. Zacch Adedeji, among others.
