World Bank Blames FG For Rising Inflation As 8m Nigerians Fall Below Poverty Line

Posted by Nwa Diokpa Business News, Latest Headlines Saturday, February 5th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The World Bank has stated that if the necessary action is not taken, the average inflation rate would not reach the single-digit as projected by the CBN.

According to the World Bank, the Federal Government of Nigeria did not take any concise effort in 2021 towards curbing the rising inflation and an estimated 8 million Nigerians have been pushed below the poverty line.

The bank made this known in its latest edition of its ‘Nigeria Development Update’ report 2021.

It said, “Double-digit inflation rates are depressing economic activity and exacerbating poverty. Rising food prices are eroding household purchasing power, and we estimate that during 2020 and 2021, the ‘inflation shock’ alone pushed about eight million more Nigerians below the poverty line.

We have revised our inflation forecast upwards from our June projection because (i) the inflation rate is declining more slowly than initially expected, and (ii) during 2021 the government did not take concerted action to curb inflation.”

It could be recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had recently projected that the country’s inflation rate would drop to a single digit in 2022 when it implements its economic policies.

However, the World Bank cautioned that if decisive action is not taken, the average inflation rate would not reach the single-digit as projected by the CBN.

“Without decisive action, the average inflation rate for 2021 will exceed that for 2020 and will be unlikely to approach the CBN’s target range of 6–9 percent by end-2022.

“The inflation rate has not fallen to 9 percent since 2014, but in a hypothetical scenario where the inflation rate would have been close to the CBN’s goal of 9 percent in 2020 and 2021, the consumption level of the average Nigerian would have been at least 15 percent higher today,” it added.