Nigeria plans to suspend taxes on certain food imports to curb rising prices

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigeria plans to suspend tariffs on certain food imports, including wheat and maize, for 150 days and propose a retail price to try to control rising prices in Africa’s most populous country, its agriculture minister said on Monday.

The move is part of the government’s policy to curb food inflation, which has risen to over 40 percent year-on-year, and boost growth that has been fragile for nearly a decade.

President Bola Tinubu has asked his economic leadership team to prepare a 2 trillion naira ($1.33 billion) stimulus plan to address concerns about food supplies and prices and strengthen key sectors, the finance minister said last week.

“To alleviate food inflation in the country, caused by affordability and exacerbated by availability, the government has put in place a series of measures to be implemented in the next 180 days,” Agriculture Minister Abubakar Kyari said in a statement published on X.

He said that in addition to imports from the private sector, the government would import 250,000 tonnes of wheat and 250,000 tonnes of maize. The goods would be imported in semi-processed state and would be used for supply to small processors and millers.

Food inflation has soared in the West African country, due to insecurity in parts of the country’s food-producing regions and the poor road network connecting farms to markets.

Soaring prices for basic food items have exacerbated the cost of living crisis and contributed to double-digit inflation, which currently remains at a 30-year high.

Kyari said the tax exemption would also apply to food items imported across the country’s land and sea borders.

(Written by Chijioke Ohuocha; edited by Tomasz Janowski)