The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has acknowledged the economic recovery of Nigeria is fragile despite the exit of the country from recession.
This was disclosed by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday at the end of the two-day MPC meeting said this is because Nigeria’s population growth rate was far below economic growth rate.
Official figure from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 0.51 per cent in the first quarter of 2021, compared with 0.11 and -3.62 per cent in Q4 2020 and Q3 2020
He said, “In the view of the MPC, although the economy had successfully exited the recession, the recovery was very fragile given that the GDP of 0.51 per cent was still far below population growth rate.”
According to Emefiele, the 10-member committee encouraged the regulator to ban access to forex for food produced locally in order to accelerate economic growth.
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He said, “In the Committee’s view, such measures should include boosting consumption and investments, as well as
diversifying the base of the economy through FX restrictions for the importation of goods and food products that can be produced in Nigeria.
“It also urged the Bank to continue to put in place measures that will boost export earnings.”
The Committee, however, recognized that the strategies put in place by the apex bank to rein in inflation.
It commended the CBN for its administrative measures to control money supply through liquidity mop up in the banking industry.
It also recognized that measures put in place to stimulate output growth through intervention programmes such as Anchor Borrower Program, Targeted Credit Facility and Agri-Business Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).
