Surging inflation in Nigeria is fueling crime wave – World Bank

Africa’s biggest economy is gripped with soaring food prices, high unemployment and surging inflation.

Surging inflation is undermining the recovery of Africa’s biggest economy, pushing 7 million Nigerians into poverty and encouraging criminality as rising prices deplete already meager incomes, according to the World Bank. In its Nigeria Development Update report, the Washington-based lender projects economic growth of 1.8% this year, compared with a previous estimate of 1.2%. But it warned that without deep reforms, the economy will continue to grow slower than the pace of population expansion of about 2.6% a year. That, coupled with rising unemployment and inflation, is leading more Nigerians into criminal enterprises to make up for lost earnings in the continent’s top oil producer. A surge in insecurity over the past two years has further slowed economic activity and left more people unemployed, fueling a vicious cycle of violence and criminality, the lender said.