Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the consumer inflation rose to 9.4 percent year-on-year in September, up from 9.3 percent in August 2015.
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Cigarette and tobacco prices were up 13 per cent, driven by higher excise duty, local body rates rose 5.9 per cent and rents rose 2.3 per cent.
The figures fell well below the People’s Bank of China’s 3% target and analysts believe Beijing will be forced into implementing more stimulus measures if China is to reach its target of about 7% this year.
The producer price index, or PPI – a gauge of the prices of raw materials – continued to decline, falling 5.9% from September 2014. Producer prices for mining tumbled 21.2 percent and raw materials slumped 11.4 percent.
Paul Hollingsworth, United Kingdom economist at consultancy Capital Economics, said: ‘This month will see British Gas’s price cuts in the figures’.
The 12-month Consumer Prices Index inflation rate dropped to -0.1 per cent in September, down from 0 per cent in August.
“Overall, the still weak PPI highlights the severe overcapacity problem and sluggish domestic investment demand, in our view”, said Yang Zhao, China economist at Nomura.
The UK’s Retail Prices Index also fell to 0.8% in the year to the end of September, down from 1.1% in August. The Bank of England, which is targeting two per cent inflation, said the outlook for CPI in coming months looked weaker than it previously thought, according to the meeting minutes of its 8 September policy meeting.
Clothing and footwear price inflation has recorded a rise of 6% in prices.
The MPC said United Kingdom growth was seeing a “gentle deceleration” since hitting a peak in 2014 and could continue to ease back if the global economy weakens.
This slowdown was further emphasised in the Core CPI number (ex-food and energy) which slowed to its weakest reading since May.
Vegetable prices were up 14 percent in the September 2015 quarter and package holiday prices were up 7.5 percent.
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A rare bright spot in the trade data was an apparent stabilisation of China’s imports of iron ore, even as the economy slows.
