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Nigeria announced a series of measures to curb food inflation that’s rising at its fastest pace in three decades in a country where almost half of its more than 200 million people live in extreme poverty.
The government will take steps including introducing a 180-day window to import wheat, corn and other food crops duty-free, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Abubakar Kyari said in a statement on Wednesday. Imported foods will also be subjected to a recommended retail price, he said.
Guidelines to ensure compliance with the new measures are being finalized and will be issued in the coming days, according to a government official.
Nigeria is grappling with the consequences of a wave of economic reforms that President Bola Tinubu initiated when he came to power in May 2023. Measures including the devaluation of the naira and a hike in electricity tariffs spawned a surge in prices, with food inflation accelerating to 41 percent in May — the highest rate in 28 years.
The steep increase in prices and a weakening naira — the world’s worst-performing currency this year after the Lebanese pound — prompted the central bank to raise interest rates to a record.
The government signaled last month that it planned to introduce measures to curb price-growth under a so-called Inflation Reduction and Price Stability Order.
Kyari said earlier interventions by the government — including the release of 42 000 tons of assorted food commodities and the purchase of 88 500 tons of milled rice — failed to ease pressure on food prices. – Bloomberg
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