Nigeria: Inflation drops to lowest level since March in July
Inflation came in at 33.4% in July, down from June’s 34.2%. July’s reading represented the lowest inflation rate since March, and marked the first decline since December 2022. The cooling of price pressures was driven by softer growth in prices for food, housing and transportation.
Annual average inflation rose to 30.8% in July (June: 30.0%). Meanwhile, core inflation edged down to 26.3% in July from June’s 26.5%.
Lastly, consumer prices rose 2.28% from the previous month in July, slowing down from the 2.31% rise recorded in June.
Our Consensus is for inflation to continue declining at a slow pace in H2 due to a high base of comparison and past monetary tightening.
Analysts at the EIU commented on the outlook:
“Disinflation will be a slow process, and the cost of living will remain a heated political topic throughout 2025 […]. Mass protests are highly likely, and there will also be a high risk of disruptive industrial action. The next monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting of the CBN is in September. A rate reduction is possible as early as this, although our core assumption is that the MPC will wait to ease until the November meeting, when it will cut rates by 100 basis points.”