Inflation slows to 16.05% in July
. Food prices rise
The National Bureau of Statistics on Monday released the Consumer Price Index which measures inflation, with the index dropping marginally from 16.1 per cent in June to 16.05 per cent in the month of July.
The new report from the statistics office indicated that the annual inflation was 0.05 per cent lower than in June, while a separate food price index showed inflation rose to 20.28 per cent in July, up from 19.91 per cent in June, the biggest year-on-year increase since 2009, the
The annual inflation in Nigeria slowed for a sixth month in July, easing to 16.05 percent, but the rise in food inflation was the biggest in eight years, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.
“The rise in the index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, meat, fish, oils and fats, coffee, tea and cocoa, potatoes yam and other tubers and vegetables,” the report said.
The bureau in the report said this is the sixth consecutive time that the index would be dropping since January this year.
It reads in part, ” The inflation report for July 2017 reveals that headline inflation has again reduced to 16.05 per cent (year-on-year) in July 2017, compared to 16.10 per cent in June , 2016.
“This makes it the sixth consecutive decline in the rate of headline year on year inflation since January 2017.
“On a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 1.21 per cent in July 2017, 0.37 per cent points lower from the rate of 1.58 per cent recorded in June.”
The Africa’s biggest economy is in its second year of recession and is contending with a currency crisis and dollar shortages brought on by low oil prices.
