The International Monetary Fund has said addressing food insecurity should be an immediate priority for the Nigerian government.
The IMF said this in its End-of-Mission statement issued after the completion of the IMF Staff 2024 Article IV Mission to Nigeria, a copy of which was obtained by journalists in Abuja on Tuesday.
The end-of-mission statement includes statements by IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country.
The statement said the new government inherited a difficult economic situation marked by low growth, low revenue collection, accelerating inflation, and external imbalances built up over the years.
It noted, “Addressing food insecurity is the immediate priority. The recent approval of a well-targeted and effective social protection system is an important step towards addressing food insecurity in Nigeria and its implementation will be crucial.”
It said the decision by the Monetary Policy Committee to further tighten monetary policy would help contain inflation and pressures on the naira.
The statement said an IMF team, led by Axel Schimmelpfennig, IMF mission chief for Nigeria, visited Lagos and Abuja from February 12 to February 23, 2024, to hold discussions for the 2024 Article IV Consultations with Nigeria.
It said the team met with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy of Nigeria, Wale Edun, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso.
Others were senior government and CBN officials, the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, as well as representatives from sub-nationals, the private sector and civil society organisations.