The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has said the country’s inflation rate is better than that of most African nations.
This was stated by the Acting Governor of the CBN, Folashodun Shonubi, on Tuesday at the 2023 Zenith Bank International Trade Seminar.
Shonubi identified several factors that contributed to the rise in global inflation.
The Acting CBN Governor, who was represented by the apex bank’s Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, Kingsley Obiorah, expressed concerns over the low growth rate in non-oil exports to the Gross Domestic Product ratio.
On the theme, ‘Nigerian Non-Oil Export Industry: The Present, The Future,’ held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, Obiorah said Nigeria’s inflation rate stood at 22.8 percent, adding that the International Monetary Fund expected the country to have a growth moderation of 3.2 percent in 2023.
He said, “Now, when you come down to Africa and neighboring Ghana, At the last count, inflation there is at 42.5 percent. We have it at 31 percent in Ethiopia and 36 percent in Egypt.
“So, in our dear country, we are at 22.8 percent. When you hear these figures, it tells you that we’re not doing as badly, but all of this has also affected economic growth itself. Today, the IMF has revised growth downwards from 3.5% percent to three percent this year and three percent next year.”
He added, “For Sub-Saharan Africa, they expect growth to moderate from 4.1 percent last year to 3.5 percent this year, but to take back again to just slightly over 4 percent next year. In Nigeria, they expect us to do 3.2 percent this year.”
Obiorah also said that the Russian-Ukrainian war and the post-COVID-19 restrictive policies of China are contributing factors.
“We know that the war between Russia and Ukraine is contributing a lot, as the two countries are very important commodity exporters. Both of them account for 30 percent of sunflower exports in the world. So, when such a region is at war, you know what will happen to food prices worldwide.
“We know too that there’s been a shift in demand from goods to services; services are usually more expensive. There’s also the disruption going on in China today with their zero COVID policy, power cuts, as we know, and then the switch from coal to more renewable energy, which has also meant that power is not as valuable as it used to be,” he said.
The economic policy expert stated that the high rate of investment in property services in China has also led to disruptions in the supply chain.
We also see in China today some correction in the property market. A lot of Chinese don’t have quite the kind of investment vehicles that the average American has.
“A lot of them have put their savings into property. But that has meant an oversupply of property in China today. There are 65 million empty apartments in China.”
