The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) today released the
Consumer Price Index (CPI) for June 2018. The CPI measures the average change
over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day
living, according to reports gathered by Nairametrics.
The report shows inflation increased by 11.23% (year-on-year)
in June 2018 which is 0.37% less than the recorded rate in May, 2018 (11.61%).
This reduction is the seventeenth consecutive time inflation rate has been
dropping since January, 2017.
Reports from the Guardian Newspaper explained that the
inflation rate fell even as the Nigerian government started releasing funding
for its record 2018 budget of 9.12 trillion naira ($25 billion), which some
analysts had anticipated would cause prices to rise.
Price pressures are still expected to kick in on growing
election-related spending ahead of February’s federal and state vote, with
President Muhammadu Buhari seeking a second mandate.
The central bank’s monetary policy committee will tomorrow
announce its decision on its main interest rate, which it has held at 14
percent since July 2016 to curb inflation.
The bank targets an inflation rate of 6 percent to 9 percent
and has signaled rate cuts when price growth moves closer to this band.
