The Nigerian Presidency believes the economy is getting better, even with the inflation rate climbing to 33.69%.
Naija News reports that the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, revealed this in a recent interview with Television Continental (TVC).
Onanuga mentioned that the month-to-month inflation rate has slightly decreased, showing a positive trend.
He also noted that food prices have been falling and are expected to continue declining nationwide, despite reports of a significant increase.
Onanuga stated that President Tinubu is diligently working to introduce measures to mitigate the impact of the federal government’s reforms on the populace.
The Presidency emphasized that the current economic issues were inherited, noting that inflation was already at 23.65% when President Tinubu took office.
“I read a report recently saying inflation has moved to a staggering 33.69%. How is it staggering? Last month in April, inflation was 33.4 something. Then it moved by a mere 0.26%.
“In fact, from March to April, inflation slowed down. So things are improving. People will soon begin to feel the impact of all these reductions.
“I had a call from my town a few days ago, with someone telling me the price of garri is going down. Inflation is on a reduction level. And it’ll continue to go down.
“This government when it came in May last year, inflation was at 23.65%. The movement from there till now is about 10.4%.
“We already had some problems before this government came into office. We didn’t create all the problems. We inherited many of them. And this government is making so much effort to reduce these problems.
“One of those things that the government is doing is the introduction of a student loan scheme. Millions of students will benefit from this. This will also help the parents at home,” Onanuga said.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 33.95% in May 2024 from 33.69% in April 2024, with food inflation reaching 40.66% year-on-year.