Inflation: Buhari convenes National Food Security Council meeting

President Muhammadu Buhari will soon convene a National Food Security Council meeting to address food price inflation.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this to reporters Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council meeting.

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The minister, who presented first quarter of 2022 Gross Domestic Product report to FEC, said she reported to council that inflation had started going upward.

She said the Central Bank had to adjust the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) to 13% in the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee to manage the cost of inflation.

“Council has also decided that the National Food Security Council will very quickly meet to address the issue of food inflation, and also provide a plan and some methods in which we can reduce the cost of food to support improved food prices for the citizens,” she added.

On the GDP report, the minister said it showed that the Nigerian economy had grown by 3.1% in the first quarter of 2022.

According to her, “This growth shows a gradual economic stability from the recession that we witnessed in 2020. It also shows the six quarter of positive growth that the Nigerian economy has presented.”

She said “though there has been growth in some sectors, there are significant contraction than others but the net effect is positive growth.

Also yesterday, Buhari urged world leaders to come together and strategise on ways to avert the looming food crisis around the globe.

He spoke in Madrid, Spain at the Royal Palace during an audience with his Royal Majesty, King Felipe VI in continuation of his State Visit to the country.

A statement by the presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said the two leaders, who canvassed a global action to stem the food problem especially in wheat production occasioned by the ongoing war in Ukraine, urged world leaders to take concrete actions to avert the crisis.

The King, according to the statement, said Nigeria was an important country and looked forward to an opportunity to visit the country especially against the background of stronger cooperation being forged by the two countries.