NIGERIA ECONOMY INFLATION
For manufacturers, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and households, the latest decline is yet to translate into any meaningful improvement in purchasing power.
A former director at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr Vincent Nwani, expressed scepticism about the methodology used, the consumer price index (CPI) methodology.
Nwani, in an interview with The Guardian, said the figures released did not reflect what consumers and businesses were experiencing in the market.
As a consumer, head of a household and an operator of a small business, he said, had yet to see any meaningful reduction or improvement in the rate of price growth over the past year.
Nwani emphasised that some of the major drivers of inflation, including food, transportation and energy, had not dropped, making it difficult for Nigerians to reconcile the official figures with market conditions.
He expressed disappointment that the harvest season, which normally brings some reduction in food prices, had instead been accompanied by further increases.
On energy costs, Nwani said the price of petrol, which fell slightly after the Strait of Hormuz was reopened, had risen again.
Sharing similar sentiment, the National President, Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON), Dr Femi Egbesola, said the real test of improvement in macroeconomics, of which inflation is a part, is whether it could be seen in the lives of citizens, business growth and the operating environment.
Egbesola lamented what he described as a major mismatch between the government’s claims of rising gross domestic product (GDP) and falling inflation and the realities confronting businesses.
He said while the government was reporting economic growth and declining inflation, “manufacturing is dying rapidly while MSMEs are folding up daily”.
He also questioned the emphasis on the reported decline in inflation when businesses were yet to receive meaningful relief.
Egbesola called on the government to be transparent and run an inclusive government, stressing that if the government was realising more revenue as claimed, the funds should be used to improve social infrastructure and make life easier for citizens.
However, the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr Muda Yusuf, said the marginal decline in inflation could reflect sustained macroeconomic stability, particularly in the foreign exchange (FX) market.
He explained that imported inflation remained a critical component of Nigeria’s inflation because of the country’s heavy dependence on imports.
“The fact that FX has remained stable, and in a few instances, even slightly appreciated. I think this has impacted positively on investment and investors’ confidence,” Yusuf said.
He noted, however, that FX stability had not removed the pressures being faced by households and businesses.
Yusuf identified food, transportation, utilities and energy as the major cost-of-living pressures that continued to drive inflation.
He therefore called for interventions from all arms of government to tackle the major drivers of inflation, saying the problems require fiscal interventions at both the federal and state levels.
