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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stated that to combat the adverse effects of flooding; the bank would use strategic grains reserve to check food inflation.
The CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele stated this during the 288th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) held earlier today in Abuja.
Nigeria’s projected GDP growth for 2022 has been lowered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 3.4% to 3% due to Nigeria’s weak oil production and the heavy impact of flooding.
IMF stated that the slowdown in growth reflects year-to-date weaknesses in oil production and the adverse effects of recent flooding.
What the CBN is saying
He said, “The flooding of this year happens to be the worst in the last five years in Nigeria. 32 out of the 36 states of the country were affected adversely by the floods. This meant that farmers lost their crops, and food prices and other agricultural products would go up.”
“From our side at the CBN and the Federal Government, we have our strategic reserve, particularly for rice and for grains like maize, which we will use to moderate prices,” he added.
He claimed that the strategic reserve had been kept by the apex bank for the previous three years and was producing results. To further control food inflation, he stated that the CBN would also support farming during the dry season.
He said, “Since the flooding is beginning to recede, we will aggressively go into the dry season program. This will make sure that the impact of the rising food prices does not linger for too long so that we can have control of prices of agricultural produce and other consumer goods,”
For the record
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said the recent flooding incidents across the country displaced 840,000 Nigerian children.
Nigeria’s Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) requested the sum of N100 billion as its intervention fund to repair roads damaged by the recent flooding nationwide.
The Nigerian government has stated that it has established 44 shelters in 24 states affected by flooding, citing that most of the people concerned have been evacuated onto higher planes
