By Obas Esiedesa, Abuja

With inflation rising in Nigeria and several countries across the globe, economists have called for measures aimed at tackling the continuing negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The economists also expressed concerns that the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine has further compounded the economic challenges facing the world.

Speaking at a Stakeholders Dissemination Workshop on the Fiscal Impacts of Covid-19 Pandemic and Lessons for the Future in Abuja, they insisted that the Nigeria’s Social Accounting Matrix, SAM, a comprehensive and economy-wide database that records data about all transactions between economic agents in a specific economy for a specific period of time, is obsolete.

A team of economic experts; Lulit Mitik Beyene, Adeola Adenikinju, Bernard Decaluwé, Oluwasola E. Omoju, and Abiola Akande had completed a study supported by the Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) based in Nairobi Kenya, on the “Impacts and Adjustment Responses to Economic Recovery from Covid-19 Pandemic: The case of Nigeria” as part of a four-country study, covering Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, and Kenya.

The Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Doyin Salami in his opening remarks noted that the trillions of dollars spent by the global economy was causing a cascade of inflationary pressure and economic lockdown.

He pointed out that the development, playing out across the world, resulted from different shocks the world is facing, especially Covid-19 and immediate response from the war in Ukraine.

Salami said while Nigeria has domestic challenges, the war in Ukraine and Covid-19 exacerbated the challenges, leading to the prevailing economic woes bedevilling the country.

He explained that the challenges posed by the fallout of the two occurrences have strongly disrupted the global supply chain leading to increasing inflation across economies.

He said: “You cannot spend trillions of dollars expanding economies without expecting inflationary consequences. So there was always going to be a rebalancing by Central Banks in particular and by fiscal authorities to the responses to COVID. So, that is in part what we are now seeing, that the world is now prioritizing inflation, and parts of the world economy are now in recession.”

He disclosed that the Federal Government was working to rebase Nigeria’s economy to reflect current realities.

On his part, Prof. Adeola Adenikinju, Head of Department of Economics, University Ibadan noted that the 2006 accounting matrix for Nigeria is obsolete given the changes in the economy.

Adenikinju who linked the growing inflation across the world to the direct spending to cushion the impacts of Covid-19, said the pandemic is likely to have disproportionate impacts on informal non-agricultural sectors where women are overrepresented.

He said the rapid and effective rollout of the vaccine is of paramount importance to slow down the widening gender gap in Nigeria, adding that a rapid and effective rollout of the vaccine could relieve women and girls from disproportionately carrying the care burden and increase their mobility.

According to him, “Domestic resource mobilisation is crucial if Nigeria is to continue the current pace of government expenditure. Expenditure cuts should take into account adverse effects on vulnerable groups”.