Nigerian Inflation Slows to 12-Month Low 

(Bloomberg) --

Nigeria’s annual inflation rate declined to the lowest in a year in July as food prices increased slower than in the previous month

Consumer prices rose 11.1% from a year earlier compared with 11.2% in June, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said Friday in a report published on its Twitter account. The median of five economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg survey was 11.2%. Prices rose 1% in the month.

Key Insights

• While the food sub-index, which accounts for about half of the inflation basket, rose 13.4% in July compared with 13.6% in June, this week’s directive from President Muhammadu Buhari to stop dollar supplies for food imports could push up prices if shortages due to clashes between herders and farmers worsen.
• Governor Godwin Emefiele kept the key rate unchanged last month to fight inflation that’s been above the target range of 6% to 9% for more than four years. With an economy that’s still struggling to recover from a 2016 contraction, the central bank said lenders will no longer receive interest on deposits exceeding 2 billion naira ($5.5 million) and ordered them to increase their loan-to-deposit ratios in an effort to boost credit growth.

--With assistance from Prinesha Naidoo, Hilton Shone and Simbarashe Gumbo.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alonso Soto in Dakar at asoto54@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rene Vollgraaff at rvollgraaff@bloomberg.net, Anthony Osae-Brown

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