Nigeria’s Inflation Declines Slightly in Feb

• Nigeria’s Inflation Declines Slightly in Feb

Consumer prices eased in February despite the uncertainties surrounding the general elections.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report released on Friday showed the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation rate, declined from 11.37 percent year-on-year in January to 11.31 percent in February.

The number was better than Bloomberg’s projection of 11.50 percent.

On a monthly basis, headline inflation changed slightly by 0.001 percent point, from the 0.74 percent recorded in January to 0.73 percent in February.

The high-flying food index declined from 13.51 percent year-on-year in January to 13.47 percent in February.

On a month-on-month basis, food inflation increased at a slower rate of 0.82 percent, down from 0.83 percent recorded in February.

The continuous slow down in the prices of goods and services can be attributed to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s efforts at stimulating growth through foreign exchange intervention and affordable forex rates.

Most analysts had predicted that the uncertainties surrounding national elections will hurt consumer prices as capital outflow was expected to jump in February.

Consumer prices, however, moderated for the second consecutive month due to the broad adoption of the Investors & Exporters Forex Window introduced by the CBN in April 2017.

Data showed the I&E FX window has facilitated N3.14 trillion or $8.69 billion transactions year-to-date.

The textile’s forex restriction should also boost growth and further enhance economic productivity as importers of raw materials can now access more forex to sustain jobs and deepen growth.