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The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has said that the current scarcity of naira notes has negatively impacted business activities by disrupting the proper flow of goods.
The president of the association, Otunba Francis Meshioye, stated this on Tuesday during an interaction with journalists in Lagos.
According to him, the current naira scarcity and the pressure the cash crunch has put on online transactions have negatively affected the free flow of goods.
He said, “I want to assume that this is a very short-term problem. It is general. Even if you want to do e-banking, there are some things you cannot do at the moment. We have problems, PoS is not working.
“There is no way any scarcity of something that is essential to the consumer will not affect the producer. We feel it because it hinders the proper flow of our goods to the end user. What effect is that going to have? It means we will pile stock and when we pile stock, it means cash is trapped. We pay high interest rates and they won’t yield good returns and investments go to where returns come regularly.
“No investor wants to play with his money. This is a very big issue in the economy now. If you put all these together, you will agree with me that we are really facing a critical time as manufacturers.”
Meshioye further stated that the lingering fuel scarcity has worsened the energy crisis faced by manufacturers and has made it difficult to determine the price of goods.
“Currently, we cannot do our budget effectively. You have to do a flex budget so that every month you have to review your budget. The prices cannot be determined because the day after things can go to the left or right with regard to forex.”
On the association’s interaction with presidential aspirants and their plans for the manufacturing sector, Meshioye stated that MAN was being strategic in its engagement during this electioneering year to place its issues on the front burner.
He said the association has engaged the presidential aspirants on the importance of having a virile and competitive manufacturing sector.
“We have equally pushed at different fora with major political contenders to incorporate the need to accelerate the growth and development of the manufacturing sector in their economic agenda.
“In this regard, we have availed all the political parties with our Blueprint for the Accelerated Development of Manufacturing in Nigeria as well as the agenda for manufacturing in Nigeria for the next 10 years,” Meshioye said.
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