O
Oladipo Abiola
Guest
An economist, Bismarck Rewane, has predicted that food inflation would increase in Nigeria in the coming weeks.
Rewane, who lamented specifically about the rising cost of beans, said the floods which have destroyed many farms, the high cost of moving goods from the farms to the market and the increase in the price of petrol from about ₦600 to about ₦1,000 are factors responsible for the increasing price of food products in Nigeria.
He made this known on Thursday while speaking on Channels Television.
Rewane said some food items, such as onions and rice, have recorded a little reduction in prices, but beans has been on the increase and getting out of hand.
“We’ve seen onions come down sharply to N115,000, and rice has also come down to N110,000; it was as high as N120,000. The commodity that is surprising to everybody is beans; beans has gone out of storage and out of reach,” he said.
The economist attributed the hike in beans’ prices to recent flooding, which ravaged food-producing states like Borno, Bauchi, and Sokoto, amongst others.
“Flooding has destroyed a lot of goods,” Rewane added.
Rewane, however, expressed optimism that the duty waivers on food items introduced by the federal government would in the long run, moderate prices of foodstuff in the market.
“For now, despite everything, we think that inflation will still increase. Food inflation in particular will increase; headline inflation will increase to 34% but this is only temporary. When the imported commodities that we are going to enjoy the duty waivers come into the country, those prices will start to reduce,” Rewane said.
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