World Bank: 7 million Nigerians forced into poverty in 2020

At least 7 million Nigerians were pushed into poverty in 2020, according to the World Bank.

In the latest Nigeria Development Update (NDU), titled “Resilience through Reforms”, the World Bank said in 2020, the Nigerian economy experienced a shallower contraction of -1.8% than had been projected at the beginning of the pandemic (-3.2%).

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“Although the economy started to grow again, prices are increasing rapidly, severely impacting Nigerian households.”

“As of April 2021, the inflation rate was the highest in four years. Food prices accounted for over 60% of the total increase in inflation. Rising prices have pushed an estimated 7 million Nigerians below the poverty line in 2020 alone.

“Nigeria faces interlinked challenges in relation to inflation, limited job opportunities, and insecurity.

“While the government has made efforts to reduce the effect of these by advancing long-delayed policy reforms, it is clear that these reforms will have to be sustained and deepened for Nigeria to realise its development potential,” the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, said

This is contrary to what President Buhari said recently that his administration has lifted 10 million people from poverty.

Meanwhile, inflations eased in May by 0.19 percent to 17.93 percent from 18.12 percent recorded in April 2021.