According to World Bank an estimated 7 million Nigerians have been pushed into poverty in 2020 with numbers rising as inflation continues to strike Nigeria.
The World Bank, In the latest Nigeria Development Update (NDU), titled “Resilience through Reforms”, said in 2020, the Nigerian economy experienced a shallower contraction of -1.8% than had been projected at the beginning of the pandemic (-3.2%).
The Washington-based lender added that Nigeria’s economic growth is being hindered by food inflation, heightened insecurity, unemployment and stalled reforms.
According to the update, persistent inflationary pressure is driven largely by accelerating food prices, while the nation’s inflation rate rose steadily throughout 2020 and reached a four-year high in March 2021. “Although the economy started to grow again, prices are increasing rapidly, severely impacting Nigerian households.”
Lead economist for Nigeria and co-author of the report, Marco Hernandez, explained that inflation, especially in food prices, was exacerbating poverty and food insecurity in the country. parrotreporters.com
“As of April 2021, the inflation rate was the highest in four years. Food prices accounted for over 60% of the total increase in inflation. Rising prices have pushed an estimated 7 million Nigerians below the poverty line in 2020 alone.
“Nigeria faces interlinked challenges in relation to inflation, limited job opportunities, and insecurity.
“While the government has made efforts to reduce the effect of these by advancing long-delayed policy reforms, it is clear that these reforms will have to be sustained and deepened for Nigeria to realise its development potential,” the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, said
This is contrary to what President Buhari said recently that his administration has lifted 10 million people from poverty.
Meanwhile, inflations eased in May by 0.19 percent to 17.93 percent from 18.12 percent recorded in April 2021.
