Inflation: FG plans to make food available at affordable prices, says Wale Edun

Wale Edun, minister of finance and the coordinating minister of the economy, says the federal government is intensifying efforts to reduce food inflation.

Edun spoke on Wednesday at the national economic dialogue organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) in Abuja.

The event was themed, ‘Nigeria’s Economic Future: 25 Years of Democracy and Beyond’.

On August 15, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the country’s July inflation declined to 33.40 percent — down from 33.19 percent.

This was the first decline seen in 19 months.

The NBS also said the food inflation rate in July dropped to 39.53 percent, compared to 40.87 percent in June.

Speaking on Nigeria’s inflationary trend at the NESG event, Edun said food inflation is reducing and plans are being put in place to sustain the downward movement.

“Inflation, food inflation in particular, as we know, has started coming down,” the minister said.

“Overall inflation has started coming down. First of all, it slowed, and now at 33%, it’s 1% lower than it was last month.

“And we are planning on maintaining that trajectory of downward inflation. Overall, reduction in food inflation, more availability of food at affordable prices is the goal of the administration in the immediate term.

“But I remember last December, we met the whole of the agricultural value chain in Nasarawa, security people were there, machinery people were there, and of course, the general farming community and they said that the upcoming dry season harvest would be a successful one.

“We had all the tools, everything was in place to have a successful dry season harvest. That didn’t come to be, prices stayed high, and we are where we are today. But as I said, we are turning that around.”

On August 14, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) began the implementation of the duty-free food importation policy to curb inflation.

The development followed the announcement of the suspension of duties, tariffs, and taxes on the importation of food staples through land and sea borders by the federal government on July 17.