The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has claimed that Nigeria could have seen inflation as high as 1,000 per cent if President Bola Tinubu’s administration had not introduced sweeping economic reforms, including removing the petrol subsidy and changing the foreign exchange market.
Oyedele made the assertion on Tuesday during the 56th Annual Accountants’ Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria in Abuja, where he defended the government’s economic policies despite the hardship confronting households and businesses.
He said, “If this reform had not happened, ladies and gentlemen, today, you would be talking about inflation in a thousand per cent.”
Oyedele argued that Nigeria was already approaching a severe economic crisis before the reforms, citing foreign exchange shortages, extensive monetary financing and the use of future crude oil production to fund petrol subsidies.
According to him, the printing of about N30tn contributed significantly to the inflationary pressures still affecting Nigerians.
“We printed plenty of naira. Plenty trillion naira was printed. The inflation we are dealing with today, the reason why your bread is more expensive, is the N30tn showing up,” he said.
Oyedele explained that the inflationary consequences of excessive money creation were not immediate, adding that the current administration had moved to address the underlying weaknesses.
