Expert suggests best approach to tackle inflation, food hike in Nigeria

An economist at SPM Professionals, Paul Alaje, said the best approach the government should take in tackling inflation is interventions targeted at boosting the supply of food in the country.

Alaje disclosed this on Channels Television’s Morning Brief programme on Friday, saying that efforts by the government have not brought down inflation.

He noted that dolling out N50,000 to N100,000 in financial interventions to households will not address the problems of headline and food inflation, which increased to 33.93 per cent and 0.66 per cent, respectively, in May.

Alaje explained that most policies put forward by the Central Bank of Nigeria are targeted at the demand side of inflation, which is not the real stimulant of Nigeria’s inflation.

According to him, interventions should be targeted at boosting food supply across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory to tame inflation.

“Do I think we are making efforts to bring down inflation? The answer is no.

“What is driving inflation is food inflation. What do we do to boost food supply? It is over 40 percent. What deliberate action is the government taking at federal, state and local levels? I think it is very minimal.

“We need to look at the supply side; the truth is that our challenge right now is on supply. Unfortunately, the strategy used by the government to fight the challenges is on demand. That is why we have policies mismatched,” he stated.

His comments come amid the recent approval by President Bola Tinnbu for the provision of an N50,000 uplift grant to 3.5 million households to cushion hardship.

The Central Bank recently said that its policy reforms have helped moderate the country’s inflation on a month-on-month basis.