(Bloomberg) -- Nigeria has not taken advantage of a six-month window to import key food duty free, even as the West African nation confronts a cost-of-living crisis that a recent report warned was set to worsen.
Two senior officials involved with the tariff moratorium on wheat, corn, rice and other crops said it hadn’t been embraced because the authorities want to avoid hurting local producers. They asked not to be identified because deliberations about the matter are private.
President Bola Tinubu announced the initiative in July, after annual food inflation topped 40%, stoking public anger that led to nationwide demonstrations in which at least 21 people died.
The officials said the duty-free window would not be renewed after price pressures eased slightly in September and because of optimism about the domestic harvest. Finance Minister Wale Edun and Minister of Agriculture Abubakar Kyari didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Still, the situation may remain challenging.
A report released Oct. 31 warned Nigeria faces unprecedented food price growth in 2025 as the country grapples with long-standing issues including insecurity in vital farming regions.
Inflationary fallout from reforms last year by Tinubu have also played a role, after he loosened currency restrictions and began rolling back costly fuel subsidies. These caused the naira to slump and transportation costs to surge, directly impacting the cost of living.
African Commodities Exchange Ltd., which surveyed more than 40,000 Nigerian farmers, projected corn prices will jump 48% to about 910,000 naira ($542) per ton, while rice — a staple consumed by millions of Nigerians — will increase by 55%.
“If swift action is not taken, the already high levels of food insecurity in the country are likely to worsen,” Afex said, recommending social protection measures for the poor and access to farm inputs and fertilizers.
The government said it’s implemented some of those recommendations to ease the economic hardship, such as cash handouts of 25,000 naira to 5 million households, and distribution of grains and improved seedlings to farmers.
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