Tinubu moves to force down inflation, reduce price of food

President Bola Tinubu has taken a bold step to force down the spiralling inflation and reduce the price of food in Nigeria.

The president hopes to accomplish this via an executive order titled “Inflation reduction and price stability fiscal measures etc, ORDER 2024”.

In the Executive Order, the president suspended tariffs on specific items for an initial period of six months.

Items affected are staple food items, raw materials and other direct inputs used for manufacturing, inputs for agriculture production, including fertilizers, seedlings, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, poultry feeds, flour and grains.

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The Executive Order also authorises milers to import paddy rice at zero duty and Value Added Tax, VAT for a period of six months in the first instance in order to improve local supply and capacity utilisation of rice millers.

The President also suspended VAT for the rest of the year on the following items.

Affected items are basic food items and semi-processed staple food items, such as noodles and pasta.

Others are raw material inputs for the manufacturing of food items, electricity and public transportation, agricultural inputs and produce and pharmaceutical products