Rising inflation: Govt should tackle physical, food security ― Don

A professor of Finance, Uche Uwaleke has advised governments to tacked the twin evils of physical insecurity and food insecurity as a way to stem the rising inflationary trend.

Uwaleke who was reacting to the November 2020 CPI report by National Bureau of Statistics, on Tuesday, said inflation numbers for the month of November was a reflection of the lingering impact of COVID-19 as well as legacy issues of insecurity in many parts of the country, border closure, increase in VAT, the pump price of fuel, electricity tariffs and Exchange rates.

“The rise in headline inflation by 14.89 per cent in November from 14.23 per cent in October in spite of the drop in core inflation over the same period clearly shows that the major challenge remains rising cost of food as food inflation jumped from 17.38 per cent in Oct to 18.30 per cent in November.

“What this has shown is that inflationary pressure is caused primarily by non-monetary factors.

“Therefore, fiscal authorities should be on the driving seat in the battle to rein in inflation.

“Efforts in this direction should include tackling insecurity and ramping up measures to ensure food security.

“Investing in the agriculture value chain will also go a long way in supporting real GDP growth given that Agriculture contributes about 30% of GDP.”

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