The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, has said that the prices of domestic commodities are up because the exchange rate between the naira and the dollar was still high. President of the association, Mr Frank Jacob, today in Lagos said that manufacturers are still burdened by high cost of importation.
According to him, the current exchange rate between the old and new rate is over forty per cent. He said that consumers should not expect immediate crash in the prices of commodities, in spite of the improved economic indicators.
Jacob said that the prices of locally produced goods would only slide downward when the government policy on backward integration takes root, that is, when foreign inputs such as machineries are replaced by locally manufactured tools.
According to him, the government policy, which encourages backward integration, takes time and everybody should have to be patient for the programme to be felt. He said that with the good policy of the current administration, Nigerians should expect gradual drop in the prices of goods and a drastic drop in prices in the next few years.
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