LCCI Urges Government To Attract FDI To Tackle Rising Inflation
Chinyere Almona, Director General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has asked the government to focus its efforts on ways to boost confidence and attract foreign direct investment (FDIs) in view of the upward trend of Nigeria’s inflation, which peaked at 27.33 percent in October.
As a way to boost confidence, she implored the government to address the challenges inhibiting domestic production and ease the bottlenecks to the distribution of goods within the country.
Inflation has galloped for 10 consecutive months according to reports from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), and Almona believes that the battle against inflation must be intensified by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with its monetary measures.
The chamber is concerned about the unrelenting uptick in inflation (year-on-year) that has shrunk consumers’ spending and savings as well as impacted manufacturers’ productivity.
Furthermore, she asked the government to continue to address the problems of insecurity and other factors affecting agriculture productivity in the country to improve the food supply, noting, “Finally, she said, the CBN should prioritize the stability of the country’s currency and adopt the right policy mix to ensure price stability.”
Inflation rose to 27.33 percent in October, a 0.61 percent increase, over the September figure of 26.72 percent, reflecting higher food and fuel prices and the consistent depreciation of the Naira. The annual consumer price inflation soared by 6.24 percent points when compared to 21.09 recorded in the corresponding month in 2022. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose by 1.73 percent in October, following a 2.1 percent surge in the prior month.
The food inflation rate increased to 31.52 percent in the month, implying a 0.88 percent increase from 30.64 percent in the previous month and a 7.80 percent increase compared to 23.72 percent points in the corresponding month in 2022. Similarly, core inflation increased to 22.58%, indicating a 0.73 percent and 5.12% points increase when compared to 21.84 percent and 17.46 percent in September 2023 and October 2022 respectively.
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