Jan 1 (Lagos) - As the world rang in the new year, the war in Ukraine continued and NATO called for more long term western support to Ukraine. The leader of the erstwhile Russian colony rejected suggestions that there could be peace negotiations this year. The war has already led to spiraling inflation in the western world as a direct consequence of the economic sanctions on Russia.
US Federal reserve will again increase its key benchmark lending rate when it meets later this month in order to fight inflation. Central banks around the world will make similar decisions to keep up with the strength in the US Dollar and also fight inflation as a result of interest rate hikes in the US.
In Asia, coronavirus cases have been rising sharply after China relaxed its zero-covid policy which came under lot of criticism from Western nations. Now they are being criticized for relaxing that same policy.
Come back to home situation, it is a big year as the Presidential elections are set to hold and the good news is that the current administration will come to an end. Hopefully the era of CBN policy flip flops will also come to an end along with that. The Naira has been devalued so much under the current government administration who have mostly been clueless about what to do about it as they kept borrowing to pay salaries and in the process have raked up more debt that many previous administrations put together.
We wish you a happy new year 2023. Let us find solutions to the problems 2022 has left us with.
reporting for easykobo.com on Sunday, January 1 2023 from Lagos, Nigeria