Nationwide Strike : Nigeria Loses N100 Billion Daily - Sanusi

[emezico]

The nationwide strike against government's removal of fuel subsidy is costing the economy about N100 billion ($617million) daily, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has said.

Also, Sanusi called for an agreement between the Federal Government and labour that would bring about gradual removal of the subsidy.

Sanusi who disclosed this to Reuters, also said he expected inflation to rise to about 14 to15 per cent by the middle of this year, up from its current position of 10.5 percent, due to the impact of subsidy removal.

"Clearly inflation was always going to go up with the removal of subsidy. I think what we've seen is the immediate shock impact of a sudden removal and things will settle down. It took us one and half to two years from 2009 to come down to single-digit from 15.6 percent. I think a realistic target if we actually hit 15 percent, I think we will be looking at end of 2013 before we come back to single-digits," the CBN Governor explained.

President Goodluck Jonathan was meeting with workers' unions to try and reach a compromise after a four day stalemate at the time of this report.

"I think it's time to make a deal, any kind of compromise should have a final deadline for removal of subsidy," even as he suggested the option of keeping fuel price at N100 per litre and phasing out subsidies. But he insisted that the details should be left to the government and labour to decide.

Meanwhile, Sanusi while advocating for an agreement between the Federal Government and labour which would bring about gradual removal of the subsidy, said: "Look, the Federal Government can continue paying subsidy at N65 per litre for a while. I am not saying that it is not economically possible for that to be done, but speaking as a Nigerian, I will like to see a win-win situation.