Food stocks

Central Bank of Nigeria’s latest effort at curbing inflation yielded only a marginal success as Nigeria’s year-on-year headline inflation dropped slightly to 12.8 per cent in July from 12.9 per cent in June, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The CBN had among other things, recently raised bank’s cash reserve ratio (CRR) from eight per cent to 12 per cent in a bid to reduce the volume of cash available in the system and thereby curb inflation. However, the NBS, in its July Consumer Price Index (CPI), released yesterday said inflation rose to 12.8 per cent year-on-year due partly to increases in the prices of food, particularly fruit classes which formed a key dietary component during the traditional break of the fast during the period of Ramadan.

It further explained that prices of wheat, flour, and associated by-products also partially contributed to the rise in the food index as the import duty on wheat grains and flour increased effectively by 20 percent and 100 percent respectively in July.