Nigeria’s Inflation Drops to 16.25% in May

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Inflation rate in Nigeria eased further in the month of May to 16.25 percent from 17.24 percent in April 2017, Business Post reports.

Data released on Thursday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that the drop was by 0.99 percent during the period.

It is also the fourth consecutive time the inflation rate was declining since January 2017, the NBS said in its latest report.

On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 1.88 percent in May 2017, 0.28 percent points higher than the rate of 1.60 percent recorded in April 2017, indicating the existence of persistence pressure on prices despite the general decline in year on year inflation.

Month on Mont inflation has cumulatively risen by 7.7% since January 2017,” the stats agency stated.

According to the report, percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12-month period ending in May2017 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12-month period was 17.63 percent, higher from 17.59 percent recorded in April 2017.

Also, the Food Index increased by 19.27percent (year-on-year) in May 2017, down by 0.03 percent points from the rate recorded in April (19.30 percent) indicating continued pressure in food prices.

Price movements recorded by All Items less farm produce or Core sub-index rose by 13.00 percent (year-on-year) in May, down by 1.80 percent points from rate recorded in April (14.80) percent. This represents the 7th straight month of decline in the core index since November 2016

The Urban index rose by 16.34 percent (year-on-year) in May 2017 from 17.62 percent recorded in April, while the Rural index increased by 16.02 percent in May from 16.69 percent in April.

On month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.84 percent in May from 1.61 percent recorded in April, while the rural index rose by 1.92 percent in May from 1.59 percent in April.

The corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index increased from 18.98 percent in April to 18.88 percent in May, while the corresponding rural index also increased from 16.37 percent in April to 16.50 percent in May.