Nigeria: Inflation Eases To 11.02% in August from 11.08%

By Adedapo Adesanya

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday said inflation rate in Nigeria has dropped to 11.02 percent in August 2019 from the 11.08 percent recorded in July 2019. This indicated that the inflation moderated by 0.06 percent in the period under review.

In the report made available on the NBS website, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measure inflation, had disinflation continuing in August 2019 despite several pronouncements on policies as regards restrictions on the import of some food items like milk and rice, minimum wage and the recent border closures.

However, the stats office said, “It is important to note that with respect to the latter (border closures), the border was only closed 20 August 2019 with only 11 days of 31 days for any significant impact to be felt either way on prices.”

The report also added, “Furthermore, the harvest season and existing weak consumer demand and their natural effect to slow down food and other prices will also play a major role in determining the direction of inflation.”

In the month under review, it was also revealed that all major indices slowed except urban inflation year on year.

The urban inflation rate increased by 11.48 percent (year-on-year) in August 2019 from 11.43 percent recorded in July 2019, while the rural inflation rate increased by 10.61 percent in August 2019 from 10.64 percent in July 2019.

On a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 0.99 percent in August 2019 showing a drop rate of 0.02 percent lower than 1.01 percent recorded in July 2019.

Still on a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.04 percent in the month under review, down by 0.03 from 1.07 percent recorded in July 2019, while the rural index also rose by 0.93 percent in August 2019, down by 0.03 from 0.96 percent recorded in July 2019.

As regards the corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average, percentage change for the urban index is 11.62 percent in August 2019 less than 11.64 percent reported in July 2019, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in August 2019 is 10.95 percent compared to 10.97 percent recorded in July 2019.