The International Monetary Fund has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria to hike the rates of interest within the subsequent Monetary Policy Committee to deal with the nation’s excessive inflation charge.
The company’s Director of the Communications Department, Julie Kozack, disclosed this throughout a press convention held on Thursday. The transcripts of the convention have been printed on the IMF web site on Saturday.
Koszack famous that the CBN’s coverage of mopping up extra liquidity from the system has contributed to the rising inflation within the nation.
“You requested a particular query on inflation. Inflation in Nigeria is working very excessive. It reached over 27 per cent in October, that’s the year-on-year quantity.
“The Central financial institution, beneath its new management, has began to withdraw extra liquidity that was within the system and contributing to excessive inflation.
“The next Monetary Policy Committee meeting should further raise the policy interest rate. So, the Central bank is taking action to try to address the high inflation problem. As we mentioned in our Article IV Consultation, which was held in February of 2023, raising revenue from the very current low revenue-to-GDP ratio of 9 percent is essential to create fiscal space for social and development spending. 9 percent of GDP is a very low revenue to GDP ratio, and it is really not high enough to be able to support strong social safety nets, and development spending, to help protect vulnerable households and also to meet Nigeria’s development needs,” she stated
She additionally commented on the 2024 funds, stating that it “aims to reduce the fiscal deficit while also creating space for these priority spendings, both on the social side and also on the development side.”
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