The World Bank has said that a further six million Nigerians could find themselves below the poverty line with the recent high inflation in the country.
The apex bank revealed that the general increase in food prices which occurred between June 2020 and June 2021 may have shot up the percentage of Nigerians living below the poverty line from 40.1 per cent to 42.8 per cent.
According to the data obtained from Worldometer, the population of Nigeria currently stands at 213,145,112.
This was contained in a report titled, ‘COVID-19 in Nigeria: Frontline Data and Pathways for Policy,’ issued by the World Bank.
The New Diplomat recalls that the composite food index rose by 18.34 per cent in October 2021, while the index rate for September and August stood at 19.57 per cent and 20.3 per cent respectively.
The World Bank noted that the food price inflation witnessed between June 2020 and June 2021 reduced the purchasing power of citizens.
The report read in part, “The rise in prices witnessed between June 2020 and June 2021 alone could push another six million Nigerians into poverty, with urban areas being disproportionately affected; this underscores the need for short-term policies to support welfare.
“The simple simulations suggest that the share of Nigerians living below the national poverty line could have increased from 40.1 per cent (85 million) to 42.8 per cent (91 million), due to the food price inflation witnessed between June 2020 and June 2021.”
The World Bank in the report also revealed that non-farm enterprises in Nigeria were the worst affected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the apex bank, about 1 in 5 non-farm enterprises that operated in 2020, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic have closed business over operational challenges.
The bank added that about 77 per cent of non-farm enterprises reported having challenges in buying and receiving supplies and inputs to run their business.
The report continued, “Non-farm enterprises, the majority of which were in retail and trade, were highly unstable during the COVID-19 crisis. At the NLPS baseline in April/May 2020, around 53 percent of households had a non-farm business, of which some 64 percent were primarily engaged in retail and trade activities (Lain et al., 2020).
“Thus, the fates of non-farm enterprises and the retail and trade sector – to which so many individuals turned during the COVID-19 crisis – are inextricably linked. By March 2021, around 1 in 5 non-farm enterprises that had operated in 2020 were closed, among which about one-third had operated continuously between June 2020 and February 2021, but closed in March 2021.
“This indicates that changes in non-farm enterprise activity can be sharp and sudden and do not necessarily stem from seasonality. Moreover, only around 1 in 5 non-farm enterprises have operated continuously since April/May 2020.”
