Nigeria’s inflation rate drops first time in 20 months

Nigeria’s rate of inflation dropped to 18.12 percent in April as against the 18.17 per cent recorded in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.

According to the statistics released on Monday, the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation increased by 18.12 per cent (year-on-year) in April 2021. This is 0.05 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in March 2021 (18.17 per cent).”

The 0.05 per cent drop in April 2021 was the first time Nigeria’s inflation rate would fall in about 20 months as the last time it fell was in 2019 when the CPI shed 0.06 per cent, falling from 11.08 per cent in July to 11.02 in August.

In its April 2021 inflation report, the NBS stated increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose divisions that yielded the headline index.

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On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 0.97 per cent in April 2021, this was 0.59 percent lower than the rate recorded in March 2021 (1.56 per cent).

The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending April 2021 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 15.04 per cent, showing 0.48 per cent point from 14.55 per cent recorded in March 2021.

The urban inflation rate increased by 18.68 per cent year-on-year in April 2021 from 18.76 per cent recorded in March 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased by 17.57 per cent in April 2021 from 17.60 per cent in March 2021.

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On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 0.99 per cent in April 2021, down by 0.61 the rate recorded in March 2021 (1.60 per cent).

The rural index also rose by 0.95 per cent in April 2021, down by 0.57 the rate that was recorded in March 2021(1.52 per cent).

The corresponding 12 month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index was 15.63 per cent in April 2021.

This was higher than 15.15 per cent reported in March 2021, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in April 2021 was 14.48 per cent compared to 13.99 per cent recorded in March 2021.