High Nigeria Food Prices Push 7 Million Into Poverty

 High inflation pushed by hovering food costs has pushed seven million Nigerians into poverty, the World Bank said.

In a new report, it counseled Nigeria for buttressing its financial system from fallout from the coronavirus pandemic but called for pressing measures to brake inflation and protect livelihoods.

A predominant crude exporter, Africa’s biggest and most populous economy again slipped into a recession in late 2020 hurt via lower oil prices and the pandemic, but suddenly emerged from the droop in February.

In May, year-on-year inflation dipped to 17.93 percent, just beneath the four-year excessive of 18.17 percent registered in March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The food price amplify in May was at 22.28 percent.

“Food expenses accounted for over 60% of the total increase in inflation. Rising costs have pushed an estimated 7 million Nigerians beneath the poverty line in 2020 alone,” its report posted on Tuesday said.

The World Poverty Clock, which uses UN, IMF and World Bank data to monitor progress towards poverty, reviews Nigeria had forty one percent of its populace or almost 87 million people living in intense poverty on less than $1.90 per day.

The World Bank record applauded government reforms to offset the disaster and assist recovery, including price reducing and changes to energy subsidies, but those measures needed to be sustained.

“Nigeria faces interlinked challenges in relation to inflation, confined job opportunities, and insecurity,” stated Shubham Chaudhuri, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria.

“While the government has made efforts to minimize the effect of these by advancing long-delayed policy reforms, it is clear that these reforms will have to be sustained and deepened.”

Nigeria needs urgently to minimize inflation by promoting inclusive boom and job creation and assisting small and medium businesses gain access to finance, it said.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the oil rate crash have hammered Nigeria’s economy, which receives ninety percent of overseas exchange revenue from petroleum exports, pushing it into its 2nd recession in 4 years.

As well as inflation, a rise in joblessness has left a 0.33 of Nigeria’s workforce unemployed at the end of 2020, in accordance to the statistics office.