Government should offer targeted intervention to cushion inflation pressures – LCCI

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called on the government to implement strategic policies and offer targeted intervention to cushion the impact of the country’s inflationary pressures going forward.

The chamber made this call in a statement signed by Chinyere Almona, director general, LCCI who mentioned that Nigeria’s inflation rate is at an almost 17-year high when it hit 19.64 percent in July 2022 which is largely attributable to the rise in food and energy prices, FX scarcity and rising insecurity.

She noted that the three lowest rates were recorded in Borno, Jigawa, and Kaduna, while the highest rates were found in Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, and, Kogi States which reflects the inability to move food and other items from the North to the South leading to wastage and scarcity.

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“The government’s intervention so far has not impacted the inflationary pressures that keep rising till now, without concrete and quick steps to intervene, the rising tide of the inflation rate may continue into the end of the year; the Government should offer a targeted intervention to cushion inflationary pressures,” she said.

Almona said the Chamber has consistently recommended the need for special interventions in critical sectors like manufacturing with a focus on subsidizing production to reduce the burden of rising cost of production, adding that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s reversal of its concessionary interest rate on intervention loans from five percent to nine percent is ill timed.

“There is a need for a good mix of both fiscal and monetary policies to tackle the core drivers of the inflation scourge in Nigeria, there should be targeted financing for critical sectors and activities like agriculture, food processing, aviation fuels, transport, and FX availability for manufacturing inputs,” she said.

She also urged the CBN to look beyond hiking rates to taking definite and articulated actions that address the factors driving the inflationary pressures.