Business
Reduce Food Prices, IMF Urges FG
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to focus on reducing the high prices of food, drugs and transportation through the implementation of social protection measures.
IMF’s Director of Communications, Julie Kozak, said this in the transcript of a press briefing posted on its website.
He emphasised the urgent need to alleviate the hardships faced by Nigerians occasioned by the fuel subsidy removal policy by the current administration.
According to Kozak, the full implementation of the social safety net programme is considered essential for the government’s future efforts to reform the costly subsidies on fuel and electricity.
Noting that addressing food insecurity was an immediate priority, Kozak said, “We do recognise the difficult situation that many Nigerians face. Our advice is first and foremost to help ease this suffering related to higher food, drug, and transportation prices by strengthening social protection.
“With food price inflation reaching 35 per cent year over year in January, addressing food insecurity is the immediate priority. The recently approved targeted social safety net programme will provide cash transfers to vulnerable households and this is also a very important step to easing the suffering.
“It will need to be fully implemented before the government can address costly implicit fuel and electricity subsidies in a manner that will ensure that low-income households are protected”.
The IMF also noted that the recent actions of the Monetary Policy Committee, which further tightened monetary policy, was a positive step towards curbing inflation and relieving pressure on the naira.
The IMF Communications Director said: “And the decision last week by the Monetary Policy Committee to further tighten monetary policy should also help contain inflation and contain pressures on the naira”.
Last month, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other labour unions had a nationwide protest over the high cost of living, inflation, insecurity, and hardship in the country.
Nigeria’s inflation rate climbed to 29.90 per cent in January 2024, from 28.92 per cent recorded in the previous month, highlighting heightened inflationary pressures.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
