Lagos – A financial expert, Dr Samuel Nzekwe, on Monday urged the Federal Government to focus on exporting finished agricultural products to generate more foreign exchange.
Nzekwe, a former President of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Lagos that this would cushion the effects of the rising inflation rate in the country and ensure the country’s values to exportable commodities were increased.
He said that the economic situations in the country were signs that the country moved away from a mono economy by boosting its sources of foreign exchange generation.
Nzekwe said the June inflation rate stood at 16.5 per cent, compared with 15.6 recorded in May, adding this was because of the volatility in the foreign exchange market.
He noted that government needed to try and stimulate the real sector by ensuring that the nation became more productive.
According to him, if the country produces most of its goods locally, that would automatically reduce demand for foreign exchange.
The accountant said that the implication was that prices would fall and as a result,inflation rate declines.
“The volatility in the foreign exchange market has contributed to the new inflation rates.
“It is affecting the prices of goods and thereby making the inflation rate to continue to go up for every month’’, he said.
Similarly, an economist, Mr Titus Okurounmu, said the government could manage the economy better by ensuring that refineries were refurbished to encourage more productivity in the country.
Okurounmu said the consumer price index which measured the inflation standing at 16.5 per cent was expected.
Okurounmu, former Director, Research and Documentation Department, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said the situation in the country made Inflation rate to continue to grow.
He said the crisis in the foreign exchange market had continued to be a challenge and contributing to the running inflation rate.
“Nothing is new about the inflation, the price index is normal. It is reflection of the present economic situation in the country.
“There is nothing that can be done as long as we continue to have the crisis in the foreign exchange market.
NAN reports that the inflation rate has been on the increase since October 2015.
Although Goldman Sachs, an American multinational banking and investment firm, forecast that Nigeria’s inflation would not rise above 20 percent in 2016, it later retreated to lower levels.(NAN)