The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has assured Nigerians that food prices will come down in the coming months.
The minister said though food insecurity is a worldwide phenomenon, the government has dedicated special funding for infrastructure to boost agriculture output
He emphasis that the focus of the government has been on ramping up food production through the provision of seeds, fertilisers, amongst others.
The minister assured Nigerians that with the dry season and wet season harvest, food inflation will come down.
He said, “Inflation, yes, it is high at 33.65%, food inflation at 40.5% is worrisomely high but the fact is that inflation is coming down, month-on-month. It is slowing and it is expected to reduce as we continue the dry season harvest and then we go into the wet season harvest. That is the place to focus on and a lot of emphasis is being placed on that to get agriculture output up, to get prices down, and that will be a nig factor in bringing down inflation.”
Prices of food and basic commodities have gone through the roof in the last weeks, as Nigerians battle the country’s current economic crisis sparked by the current government’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows.