The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele has said that the blockage of shipments -predominantly grains and other food items along the Black Sea have caused significant pressures on the prices of food in the country.
Emefiele who made this statement virtually at one day seminar organised by CBN for finance correspondents and Business Editors said this underscoring the need to diversify the nation’s economy to ensure that unanticipated negative shocks such as this does not undermine our food security and self-sufficiency.
He also said that the economic sanctions against Russia have further worsened the subsisting supply-chain disruptions across the globe, especially in Europe and Africa, adding that the accompanying trade dislocations have aggravated supply shocks across regions, triggered unprecedented increases in commodities, energy and food prices as inflationary pressures persist to all-time high across the regions.
The Governor who was represented by Director of Corporate Communications Department, Mr Osita Nwanisobi said the quest for building a more sophisticated economy anchored on agriculture, MSMEs, industrial and manufacturing concerns have become the major component of the CBN monetary policy.
In his explanation, he said, “Nigeria has largely depended on the oil sector for revenue generation over the past four decades and the sustained decline in crude oil production has continued to negatively undermine the performance of the economy.
“Thus, there is the urgent need for a conscientious effort to diversify to other non-oil sectors.
“As I have often said, it is important that we work to create an economy that will enable us feed ourselves, create jobs for our teeming youths and improve the standard of living of our people.
“With our population growing by over 3 percent per annum over the past seven years, against a less than steady growth in output since 2019, expanding the production and industrial capacity of the economy must be given special attention to ensure overall macroeconomic stability.”
