Border closure reason for rising food inflation- Ahmed

Yusuf Bello|The federal government on Wednesday linked the rise in headline inflation in October to the border closure drill by government.

The recent figures from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) placed headline inflation at 11.61 per cent as of October 2019.

Briefing newsmen at the end Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed said the rise were noticed since September.

According to her, the increase in food inflation witnessed in September and October is linked to the increase in prices of food, propelled by the border closure.

She said, “Headline inflation declined for several months before we noticed an uptake in the last two months and now headline inflation is at 11.61 percent as at the end of October.

“The slight increase between September and October is due to increases in food inflation ascribed to increase in prices of cereals, rice, and fish.

“Part of the reason is the border closure; the closure is very short and temporary and the increase is just by 2 basis points.”

She, however, said that discussions with neighbouring countries on the border closure is in advance stage and the Federal Government is expecting every party to respect the protocols they are all committed to.

She continued, “The border closure is temporary; we have really advanced on the discussion between ourselves and our neighbours and we expect that the outcomes of those discussions and agreement are that each party will respect the protocols that we all committed to and then the borders will be open again.

“What we are doing is important for our economy as we signed on to the AfCFTA, we have to make sure that we put in place, checks to make sure that our economy is not overrun as a result of the coming into effect of the AfCFTA and that’s why we have this border closure to return to the discipline of respecting the protocols that we are all committed to.”