An Economist, Dr Ayo Teriba, has urged the Federal Government to shore up the country’s foreign reserves to stabilise the Naira and ameliorate the rising inflation rate.
Teriba, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Economic Associates, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday.
He said that it was important for the government to increase its external reserves to strengthen the Naira, because its sliding value was partially responsible for the current economic distortions.
“The government should address the root cause of the eroding standard of living of the people, which is the depreciating foreign reserves. This is the factor responsible for the sliding value of the Naira, triggering rising inflation rate,” Teriba said.
He stressed that the government should be ingenious and consider selling some lucrative state-owned assets to buffer the country’s foreign reserves.
“The government can sell some percentages of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) to prop up the reserves.
“This is what the Saudi Government did to their state-owned oil companies and the fortune of its economy became better,” Teriba said.
Also, Dr Uju Ogubunka, Former Executive Secretary, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), advocated for more support for domestic production to check inflation.
“The government should also initiate stable macro-economic policies to promote local production.
“This will enable manufacturers to effectively backward integrate and reduce the importation of raw materials from abroad,” Ogubunka said.
He urged the government to be more innovative in tackling insecurity, saying that it was responsible for fueling food-induced inflation.
“The government should invest more in acquiring surveillance drones, to reduce the spate of attacks in agrarian communities particularly.
“This will encourage more youths to foray into mechanised farming and ensure increased food sufficiency,” Ogubunka said.
NAN reports that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported that Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 34.80% in December 2024, reflecting a slight increase from the 34.60% recorded in November.
According to the latest Consumer Price Index report released on Wednesday, the marginal rise of 0.20% has been attributed to heightened demand for goods and services during the festive season.
On a year-on-year basis, the December inflation rate marked a significant increase of 5.87 percentage points compared to 28.92% in December 2023.
According to the NBS report, the average inflation rate for the 12 months ending December 2024 stood at 33.24%, up from 24.66% recorded during the same period in 2023. (NAN)
