CPPE pushes for activation of commerce coverage to cut back import prices, inflation

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise has pushed for efficient activation of Nigeria’s trade policy instruments to bring down imported input costs and further reduce inflation.

The chief executive officer of CPPE, Muda Yusuf, made this call on Wednesday in his reaction to Nigeria’s June inflation figure.

DAILY POST reports that the country’s headline inflation dropped to 22.22 percent in June from 22.97 percent in May.

Meanwhile, food inflation grew to 21.97 percent in June from 21.14 percent in May, and core inflation similarly increased from 22.28 percent in May to 22.76 percent in June.

Reacting, Yusuf said despite the drop in headline inflation, the concerns remain as the month-on-month figures continue to reflect persistent pressures on prices.

According to him, logistics costs, insecurity, foreign exchange costs, seasonality of crop production systems, and cost of imports continue to be the major drivers of inflation in the economy.

“From a policy perspective, therefore, more attention needs to be paid to these variables.

“However, it is curious that despite the stability in the exchange rate, core inflation is still on the upward trend. Greater attention needs to be paid to the activation of trade policy instruments to bring down imported input costs in the economy.

“Tariff policies need to be further recalibrated to ease the cost of critical inputs for the production and service sectors of the economy,” he stated.