Nigeria’s Inflation Declines for 7 Consecutive Months

• Nigeria’s Inflation Declines for 7 Consecutive Months

Cost of living in Nigeria rose at a slower pace for seventh consecutive months in August.

The Consumer prices rose 16.01 percent year-on-year in August, down from 16.05 percent recorded in July, the National Bureau of Statistics reported on Friday.

On a monthly basis, the headline index climbed 0.97 percent in August, a 0.24 percent decline from 1.21 percent recorded in July.

Food inflation rose by 20.25 percent year-on-year in August, slightly down by 0.03 percent from the 20.28 percent recorded in July.

On a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index surged to 1.14 percent in August, down from 1.52 percent in July. Another indication that prices of food items remain high and responsible for the surge in the headline inflation.

Experts attribute the improvement to the Central Bank continuous intervention and surge in forex liquidity in recent months.

The apex bank injected another $250 million into the foreign exchange market this week to further boost liquidity and aid the Naira value.

However, the Naira slid N2 to N367 against the US dollar from the N365 recorded a week ago. The local currency has traded within N365-N370 for past two months.