Inflation records 16.25 % in May –NBS

Inflation in Nigeria maintained a downward trend between April and May 2017, having recorded 16.25 per cent in May, compared with 17.24 per cent it posted in April.

This is contained in the report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), released on Thursday.

The NBS stated that the downward movement of the purchasing power of the local currency, the naira, eased off for the fourth straight time, from February 2017 having been influenced by the stability, in the foreign exchange market in the first quarter of the year under review.

Giving more specifics, the report said the separate food price index showed inflation at 19.27 per cent, down from 19.30 per cent in April.

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“The rise in the (food) index was caused by increases in prices of meat, bread and cereals, fish, potatoes, milk cheese and eggs as well as vegetables such as tomatoes,” stated the NBS.

According to the Bureau, the annual inflation fell in April, as it did in the past two months prior to that, haven fallen marginally in February 2017 for the first since the recession began and in 15 months.

The only known means of sustaining the relative reduction in inflation in Nigeria, the statistics office stated, is by the stability in the price of crude oil in the international market, being the main stay of the country’s economy.

But analysts still say that until similar reduction is witnessed in the interest rate regime, Nigeria’s full exit from recession may be delayed.

 

 

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