Gabriel Idahosa, president of the LCCI said the Chamber has repeatedly warned that rate increases won’t be enough to reduce inflation unless the problems facing the real sector—which includes the manufacturing and agricultural sectors—are addressed.
He said the organised private sector is beset by higher borrowing costs, fewer incentives for investment, more uncertainty, and a volatile foreign exchange market.
As a result, Businesses now pay more to obtain credit for working capital, expansion, and sustainability as a direct result of the recent increases in the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which have also raised interest rates.
The high rates on government bonds and treasury bills are another problem facing the industry; they are drawing in both domestic and foreign investors, which has made it harder for the private sector to get credit, The Nations reported.
Idahosa said,,
Citing latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics, he said,
According to him, this continued rise in inflation is driven by poor crop production by farmers who are constrained by security challenges, transport costs, and the emerging impact of climate change.
He lamented that Beverages, produced mainly by local and multinational companies, have also recorded rising costs due to the challenging environment in which these manufacturers operate with livestock and poultry being strong drivers of food prices in the past year.
He advised the government to remain focused on boosting food production through ongoing policy reforms, targeted fiscal interventions, and better management of Nigeria’s floating exchange rate regime.
In his words
TimesNow.com.ng reported that in spite of decreasing inflation, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased the benchmark interest rate for the fifth time in a row, this time by 0.5 percentage points to 27.25 percent.
To date, the CBN has increased the monetary policy rate—a measure used by decision-makers to manage the amount of money in the economy—by a total of 850 basis points from 18.75 percent in July of last year, to the highest level ever noted in the nation.
The CBN is keeping a tighter monetary policy in place to contain the persistently rising inflation by raising the MPR.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
