Nigeria Must Address Food Insecurity Immediately — IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Nigeria must priorities addressing food insecurity.
The IMF stated this in a report after its team, led by Axel Schimmelpfennig, IMF mission chief for Nigeria, visited Lagos and Abuja from February 12 to 23, 2024, to hold discussions for the 2024 Article IV Consultations with Nigeria.
The IMF also said the decision by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to further tighten monetary policy will help contain inflation and pressures on the naira.
Nigeria is battling rising inflation, food inflation, forex crisis, economic hardship and high cost of living occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy, attracting protests in parts of the country.
The Nigerian naira has seen a dip in the last nine months since the President Bola Tinubu administration collapsed the foreign exchange window. The naira experienced an all-time low, falling from about N700/$1 last May to over N1500/$1 at the moment.
In its report, the IMF said the President Bola Tinubu Government inherited a difficult economic situation marked by low growth, low revenue collection, accelerating inflation, and external imbalances built up over years.
The IMF team met with Minister of Finance, Olayemi Edun; CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, senior government and central bank officials, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of the Environment, as well as representatives from sub-nationals, the private sector and civil society.
At the end of the visit, Schimmelpfennig said, “Nigeria’s economic outlook is challenging. Economic growth strengthened in the fourth quarter, with GDP growth reaching 2.8 percent in 2023. This falls slightly short of population growth dynamics. Improved oil production and an expected better harvest in the second half of the year are positive for 2024 GDP growth, which is projected to reach 3.2 percent, although high inflation, naira weakness, and policy tightening will provide headwinds.
“With about 8 percent of Nigerians deemed food insecure, addressing rising food insecurity is the immediate policy priority. In this regard, staff welcomed the authorities’ approval of an effective and well-targeted social protection system. The team also welcomed the government’s release of grains, seeds, and fertilizers, as well as Nigeria’s introduction of dry-season farming.
