BY FESTUS OKOROMADU, ABUJA
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria says a total of 3,567 jobs were lost in the sector in the first six months of 2023.
MAN attributed the development to the unfriendly environment in which businesses operate as well as hastily implementation of Naira redesign policy which caused the scarcity of the notes in the first quarter of the year.
The group stated this in its ‘Half Yearly Review of the Economy (January – June 2023)’ recently released.
According to the report, for the same period in 2022, 1,709 jobs were lost.
This represents an increase of 1,855 in job losses in the sector over one year.
The figure also represents an increase of 805 job losses when compared with the 2708 jobs that were lost in the preceding half of the report that is from July to December 2022.
On how the environment and negative policies affected the sector during the period under review, the report stated thus: “The decline in the number of jobs created in the sector during the period further highlighted the unfriendly business environment resulting from the hasty policies and residual effect of the currency redesign policy that led to Naira crunch.”
The report also revealed that there was a decrease in the association’s capacity utilization, which dropped to 56.5 percent compared to the 57 percent reported in the corresponding period of 2022.
Additionally, the cost of funds for manufacturers increased to 24 percent from the previous 22 percent in the latter half of 2022.
“The continuous upward adjustments significantly influence the lending rates offered by commercial banks to industries in the Monetary Policy Rate,” MAN stated.
The association recommended that the challenges in the manufacturing sector should be promptly and effectively addressed to avoid anarchy in the nation’s economy.
“The sector urgently requires measures to mitigate the adverse effects of these policies and restore its growth trajectory,” the association stated.
