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Despite elections, inflation rate drops to 11.31% in February

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The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday said the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation, increased by 11.31 percent (year-on-year) in February 2019.

This data has surprised some analysts who had expected a rise owing to the traditional high spending associated with elections in Nigeria. Some believe the drop, alongside the rise in foreign reserves, may be indicative of a comparatively lower campaign and election spend in 2019.

The data made available on the bureau’s website shows a 0.06 per cent reduction from January 2019 (11.37) percent.

It said the increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the Headline index.

On month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 0.73 percent in February 2019, this is 0.01 percent rate lower than the rate recorded in January 2019 (0.74) percent.

It added that the percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending February 2019 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 11.56 percent, showing 0.24 percent point from 11.80 percent recorded in January 2019.

According to the bureau, urban inflation rate increased by 11.59 percent (year-on-year) in February 2019 from 11.66 percent recorded in January 2019.

It said the rural inflation rate also decreased to 11.05 per cent in February from 11.11 per cent recorded in January.

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