Market News
Nigerian inflation falls for second straight month in August - REUTERS
BY Shamsuddin Mohd and Chijioke Ohuocha
LAGOS, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s headline consumer inflation fell for the second month in a row in August, to 32.15% year-on-year from 33.40% in July, data from its bureau of statistics showed on Monday.
July marked the first month in well over a year that inflation had slowed in Africa’s most populous nation, as the effects of a currency devaluation started to fade.
But analysts say August’s further slowdown could be short-lived, after the price of petrol was increased twice in September, angering citizens who are grappling with the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.
Price increases have been stoked by President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove a decades-old fuel subsidy, devalue the naira currency and hike electricity tariffs. The reforms are aimed at lifting economic growth and shoring up public finances.
(Reporting by Shamsuddin Mohd in Bengaluru and Chijioke Ohuocha in Abuja; Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe in Lagos; Editing by Alexander Winning)
