Nigeria, March 13 -- Consumer products companies in Nigeria are struggling with rising financing costs, which increased by 56% in 2024 due to the central bank's interest rate hikes, which have driven borrowing prices to multi-year highs.

Analysts caution that growing debt costs reduce business margins and could result in higher consumer product costs.

The impact of the CBN's hawkish policy was demonstrated last year when the total financing costs of eight consumer goods companies monitored by BusinessDay rose to N811.7 billion.

According to Bolade Agboola, a consumer goods analyst at ChapelHill Denham, "the devaluation of the Naira on FX-denominated loans and the high interest rate environment increased the finance cost for the fast-mo...