Despite the naira’s gains over the past week, Nigerians have expressed dissatisfaction with the country’s high cost of goods and services.
It would be recalled that the naira, after reaching an all-time low of N900 per dollar, rebounded to N680 per dollar.
According to Nairametrics, the sudden improvement was attributed by black market traders to reduced demand and increased foreign exchange inflows.
It was reported that market players reacted by sharply increasing their prices when the naira hit its all-time low.
However, prices are not dropping as quickly now that the exchange rate has increased, creating a situation known as price rigidity, also known as price stickiness.
A Twitter user, Sadiq Dambatta, bemoaned the failure of retailers to lower prices now that the exchange rate has strengthened.
He said:
“Naira has appreciated, but prices are still the same because it’s old stock from when the dollar was high, but there was no old stock from when the dollar was low when exchange rates were high. It’s okay. Forget the leaders for a minute we are our problem.”
Another Twitter user, Able said, “Naira just appreciated like 2 days ago, and suddenly everything wants to see a drastic drop in the price of goods. Nigerians are funny 😄 The increase in the price of goods didn’t happen suddenly. Peak milk didn’t just go from 50 nairas to 100naira. It was gradual. So give it time.”
Eniola Akinkuotu also stated, “A car dealer who bought a dollar at N850 in order to import cars will not reduce the cost of his car because the dollar has now hit N690. For Nigerians to enjoy lower prices, the naira has to be more stable than it is. It is not the rate that scares investors. It’s the instability.”
@kingslerz, tweeted, “You bought something at N5 when the dollar was high, and you want to sell it at N3 because the dollar has come down… Abeg make una dey reason… For me, I will have to sell my old stock finish before aligning.”
