Expert urges CBN to change Strategy to tame Inflation

The nations’ headline inflation rate for January has failed to follow the trend noticed in December by reaching a 17 year high by reaching 21.87 percent due to a variety of factors like the New Naira Notes Scarcity and Others.

Taiwo Oyedele a tax expert and Africa Tax Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, disclosed this while speaking to Tolulope Ogunjobi on Business Nigeria programme on TVC News on Friday afternoon.

Mr Oyedele said the figures from December was an incentive that many had thought will lead to more decline from January which was not the case as factors such as Naira notes scarcity made sure that their was a rise in Inflation figures all round.

He said the continued drop in Inflation would have ensured that the Monetary Policy Rate Drops which will in turn make it easier for Businesses to invest and stimulate Economic growth.

He disclosed that this would have also enhanced Job creation and improve the general quality of lives of the people.

He described the way prices have been inflated through the scarcity of the Naira as in 3 ways with Cash payment lower with new notes but higher with the Old notes and Bank Transfers which can be between 20 and even 30 percent difference in some instances.

He said the scarcity of the Naira and Fuel has ensured that the Hopes and Aspirations for the decline of inflation was hit and is not realised.

On whether the move to continue to match Inflation rise with Rate Hikes, he said it is not sustainable and should even be seen as the wrong strategy.

He said the reasons for this being the wrong strategy are very simple with the Economy being essentially cash based.

He said this has made it relatively difficult to control inflation despite the repeated rate hikes which has not been effective.

He said the repeated Rate Hike has not been effective overtime and different strategy should be adopted.

He added that the way the government does address the issue of the use of the Way and Means at both the Federal and State levels is also responsible for the skyrocketing inflation.

He also called for more to be done to address Exchange rate disparity which has succeeded in bring into the Country imported inflation.

Finance Expert Urges CBN to address issues creating New Notes Scarcity

The Current Scarcity of New Naira Notes across the Country could have been better handled as against the current confusion being witnessed across the Country which would have helped in taming inflation.

Managing Director of Dignity Finance and Investment, Dr Chijioke Ekechukwu, made this disclosure while speaking to Tolulope Ogunjobi on Business Nigeria on Friday Afternoon.

Dr Ekechukwu in his reaction to the impact the ongoing scarcity of Naira Notes both old and new said the Central Bank of Nigeria should have handled the situation better especially in relation to the movement of the New Notes which should have been done simultaneously across the Country.

He added that because of the vast nature of Nigeria the time given should have been more with the Central Bank of Nigeria handling it with a lot more seriousness than it has been handled.

He said even in the big urban and developed Centres like Lagos, Abuja and Others, the New Notes are not available and this shows that its not been properly handled.

He asked that if it is like this in Abuja, Lagos and Other places, what would it be like for rural areas who have no access to banking services.

He said the New notes have not been in circulation in good numbers anywhere across the Country.

He however urged Nigerians to embrace the cashless policy but also add that most people in the rural areas will suffer unnecessarily over the Policy since they do not have access to Electronic payments or banking.

He said the process of using Electronic transfers is very cumbersome and may create needless schism between people.

He expressed his hope that the recirculation of the old 200 Naira Notes will help in gradually easing the situation with a little bit of patience.

He described the current experience with Electronic payment system in the country as a case of double jeopardy with the banks not having the capacity for the sudden upsurge in the use of Electronic Transfers and Payment.

He said he is still at a loss on why the Electronic systems of the banks have crashed or in some cases experience major difficulties in operation.

He also expressed doubt about the availability of enough 200 Naira Notes to be put into circulation calling for more to be done to ensure seamless transition.

He said their are too many issues and challenges associated with the new normal of using Electronic Transfers and platforms that needs the attention of all banks to redress.

He urged the banks to put all hands on deck to ensure that they upgrade their Electronic platform so that the challenges being experienced by people comes to an end or is reduced drastically.

He also called on the Central Bank of Nigeria to render the required assistance for the banks to do better than they currently do.

On the reported sharp practices within the banking Sector, he said its is just a supply and demand issue which happens in order Sectors too.

He pointed at the issue of Import licenses which used to be scarce leading to people paying through their noses to get the licenses.

He expressed surprise that initially when the issue of new Naira Notes came up, he was able to access as much as two hundred thousand Naira but just all of a sudden the money disappeared from circulation.

He called for proper investigation by the top management of banks across the country to ascertain the true situation of things on the disappearance of the notes.

He said the ruling by the Supreme Court will not solve the problem, he said what should be paramount on the minds of all involved in the process is to find a way to alleviate the suffering of all Nigerians.

He said the whole issue started because a lot of things were not done right and that those things need to be addressed before things can actually get better for all.