The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise has stressed the need to address key inflation drivers, despite Nigeria’s inflation rate declining for a third consecutive month.

Muda Yusuf, CPPE founder, stated this on Wednesday in Lagos, responding to June’s 22.22 per cent inflation rate released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The June figure dropped from May’s 22.97 per cent, reflecting a continued decline in headline inflation.

Mr Yusuf described the trend as welcome but cautioned that month-on-month figures still indicate persistent pressure on consumer prices.

He explained that although the year-on-year Consumer Price Index slowed to 22.22 per cent in June, the monthly CPI rose from 1.53 to 1.68 per cent.

Food inflation year-on-year increased from 21.14 per cent in May to 21.97 per cent in June, while core inflation rose from 22.28 to 22.76 per cent.

“Major inflation drivers remain logistics costs, insecurity, forex pressures, seasonal farming patterns, and high import costs,” Mr Yusuf stated.

He urged policymakers to focus more on these underlying factors to effectively contain inflation.

Mr Yusuf also called for the use of trade policy tools to reduce the cost of imported inputs into the economy. He recommended adjusting tariff policies to ease expenses for producers and service providers.

He also urged the review of exchange rates used for import duty to lower trade-related costs.

“CPPE recognises government efforts, both federal and state, to support agricultural production,” Mr Yusuf added.

He warned that the stronger CFA franc compared to the naira is encouraging the large-scale export of Nigerian agricultural products.

“Nigerian goods are now far cheaper in neighbouring markets, so the priority must be boosting local production,” he said.

(NAN)