The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has rated the performance of the nation’s economy low in the first quarter of 2010.

This was contained in the latest edition of MAN”s bulletin made available to newsmen on Monday in Lagos. It said that the rating was arrived at after the review of growth indices.

The statement said that the low performance was as a result of late passage of budget, uncertainty in the political environment, rising inflation trend, deregulation of the downstream sector and poor farming activities.

It said that the inflation rate had increased to about 12.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2010 as against 8.3 per cent recorded in the previous year. It said that the exchange rate was quite stable, though, it was on the high side of N150 to a dollar.

“This in turn affected the cost of importation of industrial raw materials and capital goods,” the statement said. It said that the interest rate on lend during the period under review remained at a double digit figures, saying that the credit crunch also had its consequence on the sector.

The statement said that this resulted to low capacity utilisation of factories to an average of 42 per cent. It said that such development led to unplanned inventories of finished products and weakens the consumers spending.