The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Wednesday, handed over N100bn worth of fertilisers to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to boost food production across the country.
CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, handed over the 2.15 million bags of fertilisers to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, at the headquarters of the FMAFS in Abuja.
In his address at the handing over ceremony, Cardoso said one of the primary mandates of CBN was to maintain price stability, stressing that the cost of food was a crucial component of inflation.
This, according to the CBN boss, is because a substantial portion of household expenditure in Nigeria is allocated towards food and non-alcoholic beverages.
“This reinforces the critical need to address food inflation as a pivotal aspect of managing overall headline inflation rates,” Cardoso stated.
He explained that while the CBN had been implementing several measures to curb inflation in the short term, the inflationary pressures had remained predominantly driven by escalating food prices.
He, however, pointed out that while transient inflationary pressures might persist, the government anticipates substantial alleviation by the third quarter of 2024.
