The Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics on Friday released the Consumer Price Index report which measures inflation with the rate dropping from 16.05 per cent in July to 16.01 per cent in August year-on-year.
The bureau in the report which was made available to our correspondent said this is the seventh consecutive months that the index would be declining.
On a month-on-month basis, the report said the headline index increased by 0.97 per cent in August 2017, representing a 0.24 per cent points lower than the rate of 1.21 percent recorded in June.
“The Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures inflation increased by 16.01 per cent (year-on-year) in August 2017.
“This was 0.04 percent points lower than the rate recorded in July (16.05) percent making it the seventh 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 0.97 per cent in August 2017, 0.24 per cent points lower from the rate of 1.21 percent recorded in June.”
The NBS report stated that food inflation increased by 20.25 per cent year-on-year in July, down marginally by 0.03 per cent points from the 20.28 per cent recorded in July.
On a month-on-month basis, the report said food sub-index increased by 1.14 per cent in July, down by 0.38 percentage points from 1.52 per cent recorded in July.
Speaking on the drop in inflation rate, finance analysts attributed the decrease to various factors such as transparency in the foreign exchange market, intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria in ensuring liquidity in the foreign exchange market.
A former Managing Director of Unity Bank Plc, Mr Rislanudeen Mohammed said in an interview that while intervention of the apex bank had reduced the level of core inflation, such success has not been recorded in the area of the food index.
He said that more work needed to be done in increasing food production as well as addressing the impediments to agricultural production.
“The pace of decline in inflation rate is largely due to transparency in the management of the foreign exchange market as well as the recent interventions of the CBN in that segment of the market.
“But while the core inflation seems to be coming down due to the transparency in the Forex market, the food index is still a source of concern and it calls for more attention in that area.”
VON.
