The Bank of England recently said it expected inflation to increase in the second half of the year.
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Inflation in Nigeria has risen again to its highest level in six years, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has confirmed.
Falls in air fares and prices for clothing, vehicles and social housing rent were the main reasons for the drop in the rate, the ONS said.
Food prices, which account for the bulk of the inflation basket, rose 13.2 per cent in April, up 0.4 percentage points from March, the bureau said its report. The sub-index increased by 13.2 percent in April, up by 0.4 percentage point from March as all major food groups increased at a faster pace driven by higher prices in fish, bread/cereals and vegetables groups.
Speculation that the Central Bank of Nigeria will soon devalue the currency – which the bank denied on Sunday – has swirled since the vice president last week said foreign currency policies needed to be changed to encourage investment.
While inflation has broadly improved in recent months, April’s reading is a first fall in eight months, and well below the 2% wanted by Britain’s policymakers.
The house-price index (HPI) was up 9.0% on the year, with London prices alone up 13.0%.
Prior to the last few months, inflation had stayed between -0.1% and 0.1% for 10 months due to a collapse in oil prices and a supermarket price war that led to slashed prices, but prices are now starting to pick up.
However, motor fuels, recreational goods, cultural services and food prices remained unchanged between March and April 2016, having fallen between the same two months a year ago, the ONS says.
The Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN is expected to meet next week to deliberate on monetary policies.
The latest inflation figures show womenswear prices were cut last month – in particular for jumpers, cardigans, casual pants and skirts.
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On year-on-year, both the urban and rural indices recorded marked increases for the third consecutive month in March, with the urban index rising by 1.6 per cent points from 13.5 per cent in March to 15.1 per cent.
