Skip to main content

Nigerian inflation rate declines to 13-month low

Nigeria’s inflation rate fell for a fifth consecutive in June even as food-price growth surged.

Inflation eased to 16.1 percent from 16.3 percent in May, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in an emailed report Monday. The median of 15 economists’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for 16 percent. Prices rose 1.6 percent in the month.

Inflation has been above the upper end of the central bank’s target band of 6 percent to 9 percent for two years. Governor Godwin Emefiele kept the main policy rate at a record high of 14 percent since last July to fight price growth and support the naira even as the economy has contracted for five consecutive quarters. It will next review the rate on July 25. Emefiele said last month tight monetary policy will continue.

The average gasoline price rose 1.2 percent in June from a year earlier compared with a 10.3 percent increase in May, the statistics office said in a separate report. Food inflation accelerated to 19.9 percent from 19.3 percent, driven by the cost of bread and cereals, meat, fish and potatoes, agency said.

“What we think drove inflation down is the high base effect,” Pabina Yinkere, an analyst at Vetiva Capital Management, said by phone from Lagos. “Inflation is going to be around for a while driven by food prices. We are going into harvest season nonetheless, so numbers will continue to come down.”

A dollar shortage in Africa’s biggest oil producer has contributed to price growth as importers resorted to buying hard currency on the black market at a higher cost. Investors blamed the central bank for compounding the crisis by tightening capital controls and trying to prevent further weakening of the naira, which they said contributed to the economy contracting in 2016 for the first time in 25 years.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The story of how Nigeria’s census figures became weaponized - Feyi Fawehinmi

By Feyi Fawehinmi The story of Nigeria’s 1962 census never gets old. Southern politicians seeking to end the north’s dominance of Nigerian politics decided that the only way to do it was through the census. Population figures at the time determined not only parliamentary representation but also revenue allocation and employee distribution in the civil service. In May 1962, the first census under an independent Nigerian government began. There had been a frenzy of mobilization by politicians in the south of the country using pamphlets, radio, schools, churches and mosques. Although the final results were not made public, the preliminary results were quite clear as to what had happened: the north’s population had gone up from 16.5 million in the last census in 1952 to 22.5 million, an increase of 30%. But in some parts of the east, the population had increased by up to 200% and more than 70% in general. The west also reported an increase of 70%. What the preliminary results showed...

FG borrows N3.38bn To Aid Potato Production in Plateau

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) wednesday approved N3.38 billion to boost the production of potatoes in Plateau State. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who made the disclosure said the money would be borrowed from Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) with one per cent interest rate and 25 years moratorium. The minister who said the loan was not fresh, explained that it had previously been cancelled by the federal government with the intention to make a fresh request for the loan on behalf of Plateau State which she said was responsible for 95 per cent of potato production in the country. According to her, following ADB’s comprehensive programme on potato production in Plateau State, 100,000 families and 17 local government areas of Plateau State would benefit from the loan while 60,000 jobs would be created by the initiative. “My approval was on behalf of Plateau State to support the potato value chain. There is a loan that we had previously cancelled from ...

Buhari's Economic Blueprint Does Not Address Nigerians' Need - Bill Gates

Sahara Reporters The present economic templates being used by the Muhammadu Buhari government do not have the ability to address the unique needs of Nigerians at present, American business magnate, Bill Gates, has said. The philanthropist and founder of Microsoft corporation however said Nigeria has the ability to approach ‘upper middle-income status’ like Brazil, China and Mexico, but added that achieving this status depends on ”the choice Nigerian leaders make”. Mr. Gates, at the special and expanded National Economic Council, held in Abuja on Thursday tasked Nigerian leaders to sincerely invest in not just infrastructural development but also human investment. The theme of the meeting was “Role of human capital investment in supporting pro-poor and economic growth agenda”. The investor said though Nigeria is rapidly approaching upper- middle income status, the country has ”unmatched economic potential and what becomes of that potential depends on the choice Nigerian ...