Economy
AN economist, Prof. Evans Osabuohien, has said that the nation’s rising inflation can be easily controlled only if the Federal Government urgently provides the adequate infrastructure to the productive sector of the economy.
Osabuohien, also the Head of Economics Department, Covenant University, Ota, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Ota, Ogun.
The don was speaking against the backdrop of the National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) recent statement that the country’s inflation rate increased from 15.75 percent in December 2020 to 16.47 percent in January.
Osabuohien appealed to the Federal Government to redouble its efforts at providing adequate infrastructures such as stable power supply, good road networks and security to the productive sector of the economy to mitigate the frequent rise in inflation.
He noted that the country was not producing enough goods due to poor infrastructure, which he said was contributing to the persistent rise in the inflation rate.
“The country is experiencing a situation where too much money is used in purchasing fewer goods as a result of the inability of the manufacturing sector to produce sufficient goods for consumption.
“Most of the goods consumed by Nigerians are imported and once the price of dollar goes up, it affects the cost of purchase of these goods. This, invariably, brings about rise in the inflation rate,” he said.
The don explained that there was an urgent need for government to improve road networks for speedy transportation of most of the perishable goods such as tomatoes, oranges from the hinterland to the city center for value addition to the economy.
According to him, if the government can help to galvanize and improve the packaging process of goods and services of the productive sector, “it will obviously reduce the cost of production and ultimately stem the rising inflation rate in the country’’. (NAN)
– Feb. 19, 2021 @ 10:55 AM |
Tags: Economist tasks FG on improved infrastructure to boost productive sector
