An economist, Dr Ayo Teriba, has urged the Federal Government to shore up the country’s foreign reserves to stabilise the Naira and ameliorate the rising inflation rate.

Teriba, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Economic Associates, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday.

He said that it was important for the government to increase its external reserves to strengthen the Naira, because its sliding value was partially responsible for the current economic distortions.

“The government should address the root cause of the eroding standard of living of the people, which is the depreciating foreign reserves. This is the factor responsible for the sliding value of the Naira, triggering rising inflation rate,” Teriba said.

He stressed that the government should be ingenious and consider selling some lucrative state-owned assets to buffer the country’s foreign reserves. “The government can sell some percentages of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) to prop up the reserves.

“This is what the Saudi Government did to their state-owned oil companies and the fortune of its economy became better,” Teriba said. Also, Dr Uju Ogubunka, Former Executive Secretary, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), advocated for more support for domestic production to check inflation.

“The government should also initiate stable macro-economic policies to promote local production. “This will enable manufacturers to effectively backward integrate and reduce the importation of raw materials from abroad,” Ogubunka said.