Nigeria’s Inflation Accelerates to 11.9% in November

(Bloomberg) --

Nigeria’s inflation rate rose in November as food prices continued climbing following border closures.

Consumer prices rose 11.9% from a year earlier compared with 11.6% in October, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in a report published Tuesday on its website. The median of three economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg survey was 11.8%.

Key Insights

• Nigeria’s central bank held its benchmark rate at 13.5% for a fourth straight meeting in November, saying the impact of the country’s borders closures -- designed to stem smuggling -- on prices will be “reactionary and temporary.”
• Food inflation quickened to 14.5% from 14.1% in October. The price of imported rice, Nigeria’s preferred staple, has risen since August, after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the border closures.
• The International Monetary Fund warned last month Nigeria will experience further inflationary pressures due to excess liquidity in the banking system, driven by negative real yields on short-term government bonds.

--With assistance from Paul Wallace and Filipe Pacheco.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ruth Olurounbi in Abuja at rolurounbi4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Osae-Brown at aosaebrown2@bloomberg.net, Rene Vollgraaff, Andre Janse van Vuuren

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