Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, identifies huge purchases of food items by the government as palliatives for distribution to vulnerable citizens as a contributor to the galloping food inflation in the country.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, has identified the huge purchases of food items by the government as palliatives for distribution to vulnerable citizens as a contributor to the galloping food inflation in the country.

He disclosed this in his contributions during the March Monetary Policy Committee meeting, which was published on the CBN website on Monday.

At the meeting, the MPC raised the benchmark interest rate to 24.75 percent from 22.75 percent, which it said was aimed at tackling inflation.

But according to the Consumer Price Index report released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in April, the country’s inflation rate increased to 33.2 per cent in March.

The food inflation rate also reached 40.01 per cent, with a year-on-year increase of 15.56 percentage points from 24.45 per cent in March 2023.

The CBN governor, in his contribution, noted that inflationary pressure had failed to abate despite notable stability in the foreign exchange market.

According to him, the new sources of inflation are better addressed by the fiscal authorities to complement the efforts of monetary policy.