The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun has blamed the skyrocketing inflation in Nigeria on printing of Naira for eight years without corresponding production, by the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Specifically, the minister said that the N22.7trillion printed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through Ways and Means overdraft for the Federal Government of Nigeria between 2015 and 2023, plunged Nigeria into hyperinflation.
“We talked about inflation. Where has it come from? It came from eight years of just printing money not matched by productivity. What happened was that for eight years, the weak were left to their own devices. It is the privileged few that took everything. That is the reality. So that money supply must be brought back.
“You distinguished senators have helped. You have given us the mandate to raise N7 trillion which we will do by sucking money from the market, using it to pay back the CBN and giving the government a balanced book. We are going to audit even the N22.7 trillion printed aimlessly”, Edun said.
The Minister said the current administration of President Bola Tinubu is putting measures in place to stabilise the naira and resuscitate the economy.