Connect with us

Business

Nigeria’s Inflation Drops to Lowest in 25 Months

Published

on

Inflation drops to 11.25 percent in March

Nigeria’s inflation rate further dropped for the 15th consecutive month in April, creating a positive outlook for interest rate cut to drive growth.

This is contained in the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Tuesday.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation, further rose to 12.48 percent (YoY) – from a year earlier – reaching the lowest in 25 months.

The report also showed that food-price index rose by 14.80 percent YoY in April down from 16.08 percent recorded in March, While core inflation rose by 10.9% YoY from 11.2% in previous month.

The CPI measures the composite changes in the prices of consumer goods and services, such as food, transportation, and medical care, purchased by households, over a period.

Read also: We are impressed by Nigeria’s growth- World Bank

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) could consider lowering the interest rate, which determines the rates at which banks give out loans, in its next meeting for the first time since July 2016 after it had held the lending rate at a record high of 14 per cent with the gradual return to macroeconomic stability.

Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor, had said, in the last MPC meeting, that the key macroeconomic variables, which the Committee believes to have continued to evolve in a positive direction, “should be allowed more time to fully manifest” in line with the current stance of macroeconomic policy.

The inflation rate grew to a double digit in February 2016 when the nation’s economy plunged into recession and rose to 12-year high at 18.72 percent in January 2017. Since then, the rate has, however, taken a downward trend.

By Oluwasegun Olakoyenikan…

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now