DG, LCCI,  Chinyere Almona

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called on the federal government to step up efforts at  tackling food costs, especially staple food items, to avert more inflationary pressures.

 

The Chamber, in a statement issued by its Director General, Dr. Chinyere Almona, on Wednesday,  in reaction to the July 2023 inflation rate,  expressed concerns  that the nation’s economy might witness  more inflationary pressure in the coming months.

 

It  attributed the  nation’s present headline inflation rate, which  accelerated for the seventh consecutive month to 24.08 percent in July 2023 from 21.82 percent in January,  to fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate devaluation.

 

The business advocacy group therefore warned  that the volatility of the naira, as well as the lagged effects of subsidy removal, and its transmission to general prices, might cause further inflationary pressures in the coming months, if not quickly addressed.

 

While commending the government on its declaration of a state of emergency on food security, it however urged it to  prioritize farmers’ areas of assistance, such as fertilizers, and seeds to mitigate the effects of subsidy removal as well as strengthen strategic food reserves to be used as price stabilization mechanisms.

 

The Chamber also implored the government to hasten the provision of the anticipated palliatives to lessen the impact of the rising trend in prices on economic agents.

 

The latest inflation figures, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), revealed that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate accelerated for the seventh consecutive month to 24.08 percent in July 2023 from 21.82 percent in January, the highest since September 2005.

 

It increased by 1.29 percentage points when compared to the previous month, 22.79, and on a year-on-year basis,  went up by 4.44 percentage points compared to 19.64 recorded in July 2022.