The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said that if the Nigerian government can reduce the foreign exchange rate to N1,300 per dollar, the country’s inflation will drop.
President of the LCCI, Gabriel Idahosa, made this known while responding to approval of Nigeria’s 2025 budget of N54.99 trillion and the country’s targets to reduce inflation to 15 percent.
According to him, the most viable way to bring down Nigeria’s inflation, which stood at 34.80 percent in December 2024, is to make the country exchange stable at N1,300 or N1,400 per dollar from the N1,500 benchmark.
“If the federal government can reduce the stable exchange rate from N1,500 to about N1,400 or N1,300 as the sustainable new exchange rate benchmark, then you can see inflation coming down even more than their targets,” he said.
He added that boosting crude and petroleum products exportation is a requisite to reduce Nigeria’s inflation rate.
However, Idahosa said Nigeria’s 2025 budget is insufficient to address the broad economy targets of a $1 trillion economy and a 15 percent inflation rate.
“None of the budgets, either this year or next year, will be enough to achieve the broad targets of growing the economy,” the LCCI President stated.
On Wednesday, the Nigerian Senate passed the country’s 2025 budget of N54.9 trillion with the key details: total expenditure, N54.99 trillion; statutory transfers, N3.65 trillion; recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, N13.64 trillion; capital expenditure, N23.96 trillion; debt servicing, N14.32 trillion; deficit-to-GDP ratio, 1.52 percent.
The country’s current exchange rate with the dollar stands at N1,507.88 as of Thursday at the official market.
Meanwhile, DAILY POST reports that Nigeria’s inflation figure for January 2025 is expected to be released on Saturday or Monday.
