Nigeria Inflation rate slows to 12.48% in April

The National Bureau of Statistics, Tuesday declared that the annual inflation rate in Nigeria stood at 12.48 percent for the month of April, a welcome deceleration from 13.34 percent in March,

Inflation rate slowed for a 15th straight month in April, taking consumer-price growth further below the benchmark interest rate set by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

In the same vein, food price index showed at 14.80 percent in the month under review, compared to the 16.08 percent in March.

All eyes will be on the outcome of the Monetary Policy Meeting that is meant to hold on the 20-21 of May, in the meeting held in April, the committee chose to uphold the lending rate at 14 percent as inflation continued to reduce pace to the CBN target of 6-9 percent, but with the market already showing apprehension with regards to the forthcoming election and expected minimum-wage increase.

The CBN has continued to control the liquidity of the economy with the continuous sales of bonds and supports the foreign exchange with funds but with quarter 1 result showing reduction in bank credit, some analyst believe that reducing interest rate will hasten the recession recovery.

By Oluwaseun Afolabi