The Naira scarcity has led to major drop in business activities at both the urban and rural areas. Many retail business operators have continued to lament low sales and drop in profitability in recent months due to the lingering naira scarcity triggered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-led currency reforms.
A Lagos-based entrepreneur, Mrs. Rosemary Okafor, said the volume of her sales had dropped by over 40 per cent in February and has continued to drop as many of her customers always claim there was no cash to make purchases.
Mrs. Okafor, who sells fish at the Oyingbo Market, Lagos, said many of her customers no longer come to the market because of lack of cash.
“We have seen drastic drop in the volume of sales and profitability from the business. I wonder when we can return to the good old days when people had easily access to cash and bought whatever they wanted,” she said.
Abiodun Adebanjo, also an electrical parts dealer, said the volume of transactions he makes on daily and weekly basis has reduced.
“The number of people that patronise us has dropped. To make sales of up to five customers in a day has become very challenging for us.
Majority of the people have stepped back waiting for the cash crunch to subside before they can start making purchases,” he said.
Also, the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data indicated that cash shortages across the economy had a severe impact on the private sector midway through the first quarter of the year.
The PMI report for January said substantial declines were seen in both output and new orders, while firms scaled back their purchasing activity and employment.
