The World Bank has said the naira, Nigeria’s legal tender, lost 10.2 percent of its value against the United States dollar in 2022.
In the latest edition of its Africa’s Pulse report, the organisation said rising food and fuel prices as well as the depreciation of the exchange rate were the main drivers of inflationary pressures across countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa include Nigeria, Angola, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Malawi, Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia and others.
The report reads, “The Ghanaian cedi, the worst performing currency in the region during 2022, posted a depreciation of about 40 percent. It has weakened an additional 20 percent so far in 2023,”
” Other currencies with significant losses last year include those of Sudan (23.6 percent), Malawi (20.7 percent),11 The Gambia (14.6 percent), and Nigeria (10.2 percent). Furthermore, rising food and energy prices continued to fuel headline inflation.”
In the report, the World Bank projected that sub-Saharan Africa’s economy would grow 3.1 percent this year, down from 3.6 percent in 2022.
The bank said the growth deceleration in 2023 is a reflection of several short-term headwinds, including the slowdown in the global economy (particularly in the United States, the euro area, and China), the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic and elevated inflation.