Nigeria’s manufacturers project fresh hikes in the prices of commodities in the market in response to the continued free fall of the Naira against the United States dollar in the foreign exchange market. Francis Meshioye, President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, disclosed this in a statement at the weekend while reacting to Nigeria’s persistent forex crisis.
He noted that manufacturers will have to ramp up their strategy to remain in business with the Naira quoted at N1,410 per US dollar at the parallel market and N891.90 at the official market.
“It is not possible to remain profitable with this exchange rate. The first challenge is breaking even.
“It means the prices of things will be higher, and the income is not there for people to buy things as they should as things become more expensive.
“So, the demand will become low, affecting our bottom line. The break-even point will become critical.
“So, what businesses should do is to ensure that they break even at this time. It is a necessary and very challenging time for us.
“It is a harsh time, so we must revise our strategy. It is hard for us to have a long-term plan, and even the short-term plans, we have to regularly revise them to incorporate the reality of the economy into it”, he said.
The Naira ended with mixed sentiment last Friday as the currency appreciated at the official market but depreciated in the parallel market.
