Nigeria’s inflation eases to 11.31% in February

Nigeria’s consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation eased to 11.31 per cent year-on-year in February 2019, indicating a 0.06 per cent points’ decrease in the 11.37 per cent recorded in January 2019, in line with analysts earlier forecast.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the inflation figure for the month of February on Friday, well ahead of the second Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of this year scheduled for March 25-26, 2019.

The research arm of Lagos-based financial institution, FSDH Merchant Bank, in its Inflation Watch report, had said it expects inflation rate for the month of February 2019 to moderate to 11.31 per cent from 11.37 percent recorded a month earlier.

According to the latest inflation report, increases were recorded in all 12 Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.

On month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 0.73 per cent in February 2019, this is 0.01 percent rate lower than the rate recorded in January 2019 (0.74) per cent.

The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending February 2019 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 11.56 per cent, showing 0.24 per cent point from 11.80 per cent recorded in January 2019.

The urban inflation rate increased by 11.59 per cent (year-on-year) in February 2019 from 11.66 per cent recorded in January 2019, while the rural inflation rate increased by 11.05 per cent in February 2019 from 11.11 percent in January 2019., the NBS said.