By Abiola Olawale
In a worrying development, a survey conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that several Nigerians would be forced to spend a whopping 54.9 per cent of their income on feeding in the next six months.
This information was obtained from a poll conducted by the apex bank from July 22 to 26, 2024, respectively.
The poll, which has a response rate of 99.7 per cent, has a sample size of 1,665 households in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
In the survey, many households expressed their concern that they would have to cut down on items that are not essential now, in the next three and six months.
Several Nigerians plan to spend 54.9 per cent of their income on food items in the next six months.
This also comes after the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) puts the inflation rate at 33.40 per cent, and food inflation over 40 per cent.
Some of the respondents do not plan to spend a substantial amount of income on big-ticket items such as the purchase of a house, car and household appliances.
Also, Nigerians do not intend to spend on investment, such as acquiring landed properties or other forms of investments. They equally do not plan on saving their incomes.
Part of the report reveals: “Spending outlook for the next six months showed that consumers plan to spend a substantial amount of their income on the following items: food and other household Items (54.9 points), education (35.4 points), transportation (30.2 points), electricity (20.0 points) and medical expenses (12.2 points).
“This reflects their family financial situation in the current month and reaffirms their stance that they will be drawing down on their savings or getting into debt.”
The CBN survey also shows that many Nigerian households expect the naira to continue to fall over the next three months but strengthen in the next six months.
