Nigerian inflation rises for fourth straight month in December

ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigeria’s inflation fee rose for the fourth straight month in December, advancing to 34.80% in annual phrases from 34.60% in November, information from the statistics company confirmed on Wednesday.

The company mentioned in a report that the uptick in December was because of elevated demand related to the festive interval. Meals and non-alcoholic drinks contributed essentially the most to cost pressures.

Inflation rose sharply after President Bola Tinubu devalued the naira foreign money and reduce subsidies in 2023 to attempt to carry financial progress and shore up public funds.

It began to ease in July final yr because the affect of the naira devaluation started to fade, earlier than a collection of petrol worth will increase once more spurred inflationary pressures, exacerbating the worst price of dwelling disaster in many years in Africa’s most populous nation.

Meals inflation was 39.84% year-on-year in December, in contrast with 39.93% the earlier month, because of worth rises for gadgets resembling yam, candy potatoes, beer, corn, rice and fish, the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics mentioned.

The central financial institution hiked rates of interest six occasions final yr to attempt to get inflation beneath management.

Nigeria’s authorities expects inflation to fall to fifteen% this yr, helped by decrease imports of petroleum merchandise, Tinubu mentioned throughout a finances speech in December.