Inflation: Economist tasks FG on sustained support for real sector

An Agricultural Economist, Mr Bright Okwu, says the Federal Government must sustain its investment into the real sector, in order to boost productivity and tackle the rising inflation rate.

Okwu, who is the National Coordinator of the Africa Farming Project, made the disclosure to our reporter in Lagos on Friday.

According to him, the federal government should continue to invest in various agriculture schemes so as to enhance food security.

“The government must support mechanised agriculture programmes in order to improve its harvest.”

“Food index is one of the cardinal factors responsible for the rise in the inflation rate of the country,’’ he said.

He noted that the federal government must also support the total completion of various private petroleum refineries, in order to curb the inflation rate caused by imported refined products.

According to him, the federal government should sustain its key infrastructural development to stimulate growth in the economy.

“The government should partner with the private sector to build storage facilities to curb post-harvest losses.

“Post-harvest losses are one of the major drawbacks impeding food sufficiency in the country,’’ he told our reporter.

Okwu said that the monitory authorities should sustain the investment and export windows in order to inspire investors’ confidence.

It was reported that Nigeria’s inflation rose year-on-year (YoY) by 0.26 percentage point to 12.82 per cent in July 2020 from the 12.56 per cent of June 2020.

This represents the 11th consecutive monthly rise in inflation rise since October 2019.

Similarly, food inflation rose by 0.3 percentage point to 15.48 per cent in July 2020 from 15.18 per cent the previous month.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had made the disclosure in its Customer Price Index (CPI) report for July 2020.