Nigeria’s Inflation Slowed to 18.12% in April, NBS Says
By Bashir Olanrewaju
Nigeria’s annual inflation slowed to 18.12 percent April, easing for the first time in more than year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
The decline from 18.17 percent in the previous month coincided with the first drop in food inflation, the main price driver, in more than year as well, recording 22.72 percent versus 22.95 in March.
Month-on-month headline inflation was 0.97 percent in April compared with 1.56 percent in March. Food inflation was also lower in April at 0.99 percent against 1.9 percent in March.
Nigeria has seen inflationary pressures aggravated in the past year by the effects of the lockdown to combat coronavirus, the plunge in revenue amid low demand for oil, its main export, and worsening insecurity across key agricultural areas.
March annual inflation was the highest in more than three years, widely off the central bank target of keeping it within 6-9 percent. This mark hasn’t been attained in more than five years.