The federal government has assured of its determination
to ensure that the inflation rate which has been on a
downward trend is brought even lower as the government
continues to work ways of reviving the economy.
The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning,
Clement Agba, gave the assurance yesterday at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja, after briefing the Federal
Executive Council (FEC) on the latest performance figures
released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
He said though the economy is making a lot of progress
given its consistently good performance in recent times,
the question of whether the positive indicators have had
the desired impact on the lives of people is another
matter.
He, however, said he could not provide a definite timeline
to reduce the inflation to the level that will positively
impact all Nigerians.
Agba, while reacting to a question on why the downward
trend noticed in the inflation rate was yet to have impact
on the lives of ordinary Nigerians, said: “First, you say the
figures that were given show that there is a positive
trajectory in terms of the economy. I think first we need to
understand what GDP itself means. It’s the totality of the
value of goods and services. It’s an indication of what is
happening in the economy; when you are having more to
spend, more transactions are going on.
“It means the economy itself is growing and if it is
declining, and you have such a negative decline in two
quarters, then we will say you are in a recession.
“And NBS has consistently given these figures, whether
they are positive, or they are negative, and then we
compare them either on the month-on-month basis, or
year-on-year basis.
“And then we also have what those figures are annually,
which tend to show us or indicate whether we are making
progress or not. What those numbers show is that there’s
steady progress that is being made. Whether it is far-
reaching enough, is a different ball game.”
