Nigeria’s inflation eased to 13.34 percent, year-on-year in March 2018, amid base effect and declining petrol prices, which is the lowest inflation rate since March 2016.
It is also the fourteenth consecutive disinflation since January 2017, as compiled from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The rate moderated by 0.99 percentage points in March from 14.33 percent recorded in the previous month. Although, the 13.34 percent inflation rate recorded in the period under review remains well above the 6-9 percent preferred band.
“The slowdown in inflation is as a result of a combination of factors; largely reflecting base effect with stable currency backdrop and sliding gasoline prices,” Wale Okunrinboye, a Lagos-based Fixed Income and Research Analyst told BusinessDay on phone.
The steady supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), normally referred to as petrol, was said to have been a catalyst to the moderation in inflation rate.
“The relative stability in crude supply due to the tackled challenges of fuel importation and distribution experienced few month ago, led to reduction in petrol prices in March. This reflected in the prices of transportation and cost of moving goods around the country. It however then led to decline in inflation rate,” Ayo Akinwumi, Head of Research FSDH Merchant Bank said.
“It is a major positive surprise, although the base effect also played a role, considering the high rate recorded last year,” Tajudeen Ibrahim, Head of Research at Chapel Hill Denham Securities said.
According to a previous NBS report on Wednesday 11 2018, there was -5.3 percent decline in the price of petrol on month-on-month comparison.
Nigerian consumers paid an average of N163.4 per litre for the product in March, N9.1 less than the N172.5 in February 2018. This is however, against the official government pump price of N145 per litre. Although, there was a 9.4 percent increase, year-on-year, as seen in NBS figures.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day- to- day living and as such, the CPI measures inflation.
Inflation on the other hand is the rate at which the prices of goods and services are rising.
