Nigeria’s inflation rate to moderate by first half of next year

Chike Olisah

4 years ago

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The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has said that Nigeria’s inflation rate which stood as high as 14.2% in October is expected to begin to moderate by the first half of next year.

This is as the Federal Government had introduced a number of measures to help stabilize the economy, increase productivity and ensure recovery from the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

READ: CBN’s Emefiele explains why banks restructured N7.8 trillion loans to customers

This disclosure was made by Emefiele during his presentation at the 55^th Annual Bankers Dinner organized by the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Lagos on Friday.

The CBN Governor pointed out that inflationary pressure persisted during the year due to several factors which include disruption to global and domestic supply chains due to Covid-19, increase in the VAT rate, increase in petroleum prices, electricity price adjustments and farmer-herder clashes.

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It also includes exchange rate adjustment and flooding that occurred in many parts of our farm belt areas.

Emefiele in his statement said, ‘’Inflation in October 2020 stood at 14.2%. we, however, expect inflation to begin to moderate by the first half of 2021 as efforts are being made to enable significant cultivation and production of key staple items during the dry season.’’

READ: Nigeria generates N424.71 billion VAT in Q3 2020

It can be recalled that at the 26^th Nigerian Economic Summit, the Minister for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, also said that the country is expected to exit from recession by the first quarter of 2021 with the Federal Government working towards reversing the declining economic trend in the country.

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What you should know

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had announced that the country had entered its second recession in 5 years in the third quarter of this year, as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell for the second consecutive quarter.

READ: Why 2020 Q1 GDP is not a surprise

According to figures released by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS), cumulative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first nine months of 2020, therefore, stood at -2.48%, just as it recorded a -6.10% in the second quarter.