Border Closure: Inflation To Moderate In Three Months, Says Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele has said that the rise in inflation is temporary and will go down aggressively in another three to four months.

A report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), showed inflation figures at a 17-month high, rise to 11.61% in October.

Mr. Emefiele in an exclusive interview with Channels Television said that the attribution of the rise to border closure cannot be totally ruled out, but the benefits are more.

“Inflation goes up from 11.22 to 11.61 between September and October, and mainly it’s because of the border closure.

“I am not going to entirely disagree that yes, because of border closure that has resulted in some supply shortages because of goods that are being dumped into the country.

“Who are those benefitting, in as much as I don’t like the fact that prices went up momentarily from September and October, the beneficiaries are Nigerians and companies where we have seen a situation where people have jobs, farmers who produce poultry and those benefitting from import of cars legitimately.”

The CBN Governor expressed his displeasure at the inflationary pressure but was quick to assure that the trend will witness an immediate turnaround.

“In as much as I do not like the fact that the inflationary pressures are coming up right now, I’m also saying that it will moderate and very quickly, maximum of another 3 to 4 months aggressively downwards.”