The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has voiced concern over the ongoing increase in inflation, pointing out that it is limiting consumer savings and spending as well as production efficiency.
Dr. Chinyere Almona, the Director-General of the LCCI, expressed regret that Nigeria’s inflation, which increased to 27.33 percent in October from 26.72 percent the month before, is continuing to rise rather than decline. According to her, this is a rise of 0.61 percentage points, and the naira’s constant devaluation can be attributed to rising food and gasoline costs.
The yearly inflation rate for consumer prices increased by 6.24 percentage points in comparison to the 21.09 rate in the same month of 2022. After rising by 2.1% in the previous month, consumer prices increased by 1.73 percent in October on a month-over-month basis.”
“The rate of food inflation rose to 31.52 percent in the month, meaning that it jumped by 0.88 percent from 30.64 percent in the previous month and by 7.8 percent from 23.72 percent in the similar month in 2022. Comparing September 2023 and October 2022 to September 2023 and October 2022, respectively, show that core inflation grew to 22.58 percent, a 0.73 percent point and 5.12 percent point rise.”
According to the data, the items that contributed most to the price increase were food and non-alcoholic beverages (14.16%), followed by housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel (4.57%), clothing and footwear (2.09%), transportation (1.78%), and furnishings, equipment, and maintenance for the home (1.37%).
The CBN needs to step up its fight against inflation after ten months of acceleration, the speaker stated.
She recommended that the government concentrate its efforts on measures to increase trust and draw in foreign direct investments (FDIs), and she urged economic agents to implement methods that would lessen inflationary pressure.
She also pleaded with the government to resolve issues obstructing home production and remove obstacles to the nation’s internal distribution of commodities.
Almona, speaking on behalf of the chamber, asked the government to keep addressing issues related to insecurity and other factors hurting the nation’s agricultural productivity in order to increase the availability of food.
She said, “It is imperative that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) prioritize the stability of the nation’s currency and implement the appropriate policy mix to ensure price stability.”
