Consumer prices for the month of December 2019 increased by 0.13 percentage points from the preceding month which stood at 11.85% 1. This rate was 0.54% percentage points higher than December 2018. The rise in inflation was driven by a rise across all components, with the core sub-index growing by 0.34% to 9.33% and food sub-index by 0.19% to 14.67% over a month. The rise in inflation was driven in part by an increase in access to credit, as indicated in the Central Bank of Nigeria Credit Condition Survey. The survey conducted notes that there was an increase in supply of secured loans to households which was expected to increase in Q1 2020 as well as a rise in overall credit supply to the corporate sector2. Inflation is expected to rise in the coming months given that the closure of the Nigeria-Benin border has driven food prices upwards resulting in cost-push inflation. In addition, the CBN’s directive to commercial banks to give out 60% of their deposits as loans to the real sector could potentially lead to demand-pull inflation. Given that food inflation is at the core of the rising inflation, initiatives should be put in place by both state and non-state actors to increase the productivity of farmers in order to transition farmers from smallholder to large-scale farming.
February 11, 2020
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 04)
Related
Nigeria Economic Review
Global economic growth remained
fairly stable in 2016Q3 with baseline projections for global growth at 3.1 percent and 2.4
percent by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank respectively.
Growth in developed countries was moderate but unevenly distributed: while the
U.S and the UK showed improvements, growth in other economies remained tepid.
Among emerging countries, India witnessed higher growth while growth in China
remained constant but the Chinese Yuan continued to appreciate. Given that
India is Nigerias major crude oil importer, improving economic conditions in
India may translate into rising demand for Nigerias crude oil. However, the
continuous appreciation of the Yuan poses significant inflationary threat in
Nigeria given the high level of imports from China. Subdued global demand, weak
trade, uncertainties in commodity prices and consequences of the Brexit were
the key constraining factors to growth over the period. In addition, growth in
Sub-Saharan African countries remained generally slow on the account of low
commodity price, political turmoil, and inconsistent government policies.
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 14)
The
considerable increase in inflation continued to be driven by
exchange-rate-pass-through from imported items as well as the lingering
scarcity in the availability of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). One of the key ways
to reduce inflationary pressures in the near term is to improve the supply of
PMS to filling stations. In the medium to long term, the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) may need to revitalize local refining and bridge
the gap between the supply and demand for PMS by households and businesses.