Nigerian, Zimbabwe and Ghana Inflation Accelerates in April

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian inflation accelerated in April as food-price growth quickened.

Consumer prices in Africa’s largest oil producer rose 11.4% from a year earlier, compared with 11.3% in March, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in a report published Wednesday on Twitter. Prices rose 0.94% in the month.

The pick-up in inflation could limit the room for the central bank to loosen policy further when it decides on interest rates next week. The regulator unexpectedly cut its key rate in March even as price growth has been outside the target band of 6 percent to 9 percent for more than three years.

The central bank has said it sees inflation moderating in the second half of the year. However, the implementation of a 67 percent increase in the national minimum wage that lawmakers recently approved and the possible removal of fuel subsidies could increase price pressure.

 Zimbabwe’s April Inflation Surges Most in More Than a Decade
Zimbabwe’s inflation rate increased to the most in more than a decade in April as the prices of food and personal-care items surged.

Consumer prices climbed an annual 75.9% compared with 66.8% in March, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency said an in an emailed statement Monday. Prices rose 5.5% in the month.

Inflation in the southern African nation peaked at 500 billion percent in 2008, prompting the government to abandon its currency. Zimbabweans are in the midst of an economic crisis as they face shortages of food, fuel, and foreign currency. The gross domestic product will contract this year for the first time since the era of hyperinflation, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Ghana’s inflation rate rose to the highest in six months in April
Consumer prices rose 9.5% from a year earlier compared with 9.3% in March, David Kombat, deputy government statistician at the Ghana Statistical Service, told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Accra. Prices increased by 1.1% in the month.

The uptick in inflation is unlikely to be enough to make the central bank move interest rates on May 27. After unexpectedly loosening policy in January, Governor Ernest Addison said it may be time to pursue an inflation target that’s lower than the current band of 6% to 10%.

Bank of Ghana First Deputy Governor Maxwell Opoku-Afari said earlier this month inflation is likely to slow to about 8% by the end of the year. He hinted at tight policy, saying the central bank aims to keep its key rate, which is at 16%, above the inflation rate.

The statistics office still uses the old base year of 2012 and once it starts using the 2017 base for the index, that could change the inflation number.