Nigeria Homepage: Nigeria lost N387.056bn since subsidy crisis began – Sanusi

Nigeria lost N387.056bn since subsidy crisis began – Sanusi
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the punch on 13/01/2012 05:16:00

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, said on
Thursday, that the Nigerian economy had lost over N387.056bn as a result of the
strike embarked upon by the Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress
over the removal of fuel subsidy.
Sanusi said Nigeria was losing $617m ( N96.764bn) on a daily basis to the
strike.
Calculations showed that the strike in four days cost Nigeria a total of
$2.468bn, translating to N387.056bn using the official exchange rate of N156.83.
The CBN Governor said the strike was doing damage to the economy of the country,
saying that, “The nationwide strike against the removal of subsidy is costing
the economy $617m per day.”
Analysis had earlier shown that Nigeria was losing a whopping N158.93bn daily to
the ongoing strike by the organised labour and Civil Society groups over the
removal of petroleum subsidy.
The figure is based on the projected Gross Domestic Product for the 2012 fiscal
year as contained in the national budget.
Meanwhile, Sanusi has said that inflation rate may rise to 15 per cent by the
middle of this year, from 10.5 per cent, as a result of fuel subsidy removal.
Sanusi said in an interview with African Independent Television on Thursday that
contrary to the opinion that the inflation rate would skyrocket, inflation would
be maintained at 15 per cent by the end of June.
He said, “Inflation rate might rise to 14 or 15 per cent by the middle of this
year, from 10.5 per cent, due to fuel subsidy removal. Different to the opinion
of some people that inflation will rise very high as a result of removal of fuel
subsidy, we expect inflation to rise to 14 to 15 per cent by the end of June.”
The CBN Governor pointed out that the CBN’s target of single-digit inflation
was unlikely to be met until the end of 2013.
“The CBN will likely not meet the target of a single digit inflation rate this
year. We are looking at achieving a single digit inflation rate by 2013,” he
added.