FG’s negligence pushed 8 million Nigerians into poverty in 2021 – World Bank
NEWS DIGEST – Lack of concerted action by the Federal Government of Nigeria towards curbing inflation in 2021 despite inflation shock pushed an estimated 8 million Nigerians below the poverty line in 2021 alone, the World Bank said on Saturday.
The News Digest reports that President Muhammadu Buhari in his 61st independence anniversary broadcast rehashed his government’s pledge to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years, although critics have described it as a daunting task.
The Washington-based lender said this in the latest edition of its ‘Nigeria Development Update’ report 2021.
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It said, “Double-digit inflation rates are depressing economic activity and exacerbating poverty. Rising food prices are eroding household purchasing power, and we estimate that during 2020 and 2021, the ‘inflation shock’ alone pushed about eight million more Nigerians below the poverty line.
“We have revised our inflation forecast upwards from our June projection because (i) the inflation rate is declining more slowly than initially expected, and (ii) during 2021 the government did not take concerted action to curb inflation.”
The World Bank warned that without any decisive action, the average inflation rate would not reach the single-digit target of the CBN by the end of 2022
It said, “Without decisive action, the average inflation rate for 2021 will exceed that for 2020 and will be unlikely to approach the CBN’s target range of 6–9 per cent by end-2022.
“The inflation rate has not fallen to 9 per cent since 2014, but in a hypothetical scenario where the inflation rate would have been close to the CBN’s goal of 9 per cent in 2020 and 2021, the consumption level of the average Nigerian would have been at least 15 per cent higher today.”
