all.
And therefore there is the need for other steps to be tried for immediate solution. But the hardship currently being felt across the land is largely due to headline inflation of close to 30% and food inflation that is above this rate.
And to the informed, the rising inflation is a cost push largely occasioned by the falling rates of exchange and to some extent the rising prices of fuel and diesel; which is currently out of reach of most compatriots.
Some have recommended backward integration so as to reduce dependence on importation, whose costs have been negatively impacted by the rates of exchange. But for as long as one operates within this economy, he is directly impacted by the inflationary spiral. And all efforts will be made to recover no matter in which area of the economy one plies their trade.
What will help the rate of exchange will be to deliberately target measures that will impact the demand for foreign exchange such as the possibility of stopping the importation of the petroleum products which seems to be a low hanging fruit waiting for us to harvest. What is stopping the Dangote Refinery from coming on stream for instance?
What about the local refineries particularly Port Harcourt which we were informed its maintenance has been completed? What steps have we taken to harness diaspora remittances? Whatever we do in the interim we must tackle insurrection.
It is really getting very daring and certainly out of hand. There is now the need to come to terms with the fact that it can no longer be business as usual with the management of the rate exchange.
Free float of the naira as has now been made quite clear to us all is not the panacea and must be discarded otherwise we are heading for a bankrupt economy which might precipitate a revolution in the land if the pains and trauma is intensified. The current pain and hardship in the land cannot be allowed to continue.
It is now time to nip it in the bud by urgently embracing some aspects of demand management in the determination of the rate of exchange to checkmate the current apparent endless free fall in the rate of exchange. A word they say is enough for the wise!
