By Adedapo Adesanya
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed in a survey that Nigerians expect prices of goods and services to rise in 2020.
In its Consumer Expectations Survey report for fourth quarter (Q4) of 2019 released on Friday, January 3, the apex bank explained that expectations were high as Nigerians consider hike in prices of food, education, among others inevitable this year.
The Q4 2019 Consumers Expectation Survey, which was conducted during the period, November 18 – 27, 2019 from a sample size of 2,070 Households randomly selected from 207 Enumeration Areas(EAs) across the country, showed that most respondents expect prices of goods and services to rise in the next 12 months.
“Most respondents expect prices of goods and services to rise in the next 12 months, with an index of 17.0 points,” a part of the report stated.
It was disclosed that Nigerians expect this to be driven food and other household needs, savings, purchase of appliances/consumer durables, education, purchase of houses, and purchase of car/motor vehicle. The report stated that overall buying conditions index for big-ticket items in the current quarter stood at 29.7 points.
“This indicates that majority of consumers believed that the current quarter was not the ideal time to purchase big-ticket items like consumer durables, motor vehicles and house & lot more,” the survey explained.
The survey added that, “The consumers’ overall confidence outlook rose in Q4 2019, as consumers were optimistic in their outlook.
“The index at 3.3 points was 6.4 points lower than the index in the corresponding period of 2018. Respondents attributed this favourable outlook to improved family income and family financial situation. The consumer outlooks for the next quarter and next 12 months were positive at 19.7 and 30.2 points, respectively.
“This outlook could be attributed to the expected increase in net household income, expectations to save a bit and/or have plenty over savings and an anticipated improvement in Nigeria’s economic conditions in the next 12 months,” it stated further.
The unemployment index for the next 12 months remained positive at 21.0 points in Q4 2019, indicating that consumers generally expect the unemployment rate to rise in the next one year.
