The Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismarck Rewane, has cautioned Nigerians to brace for a rise in the inflation rate for September, despite a recent decline in August.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Business Morning segment of the Sunrise Daily breakfast program on Tuesday, Rewane provided insights into the current economic situation.
Recall that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that Nigeria’s inflation rate has dropped to 32.15 percent, according to its latest data.
Rewane explained that the inflation data for August was collected before the recent increase in petrol prices and during a period of protests.
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He added that while there was a noticeable drop in the prices of perishable commodities, the impact of the petrol price hike was not yet felt.
Looking ahead, Rewane projected that any significant moderation in inflation might not be apparent until the end of the year.
Rewane emphasized that the current decline in inflation is temporary, occurring between the protests and the petrol price increase.
He said, “I think one thing we have to put out there so that everybody knows this: inflation data happened at a period before the petrol price increase and the data was taken at the time of the protests.
“So, we saw prices of perishable commodities decline, and we did not felt the impact of the increase in petrol prices.
“It is good news but we shouldn’t get too excited because the September data is beginning to point to the fact that more likely than not, we are going to have an increase in the price level so that’s what we’re going to see in September.
“Our forecast and our view is that moderation in inflation is going to be more visible at the end of the year rather than at this time.
“We had expected it in September but now it’s more likely to happen in December.
“It is short-lived because it happened in between protests and petrol price increase.”
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