Nigeria’s inflation rate accelerates to 11.9%

Bloomberg

Nigeria’s inflation rate rose in November as food prices continued climbing following border closures.
Consumer prices rose 11.9% from a year earlier compared with 11.6% in October, the Abuja-based National Bureau of Statistics said in a report published on Tuesday. The median of three economists’ estimates in a Bloomberg survey was 11.8%.
Nigeria’s central bank held its benchmark rate at 13.5% for a fourth straight meeting in November, saying the impact of the country’s borders closures — designed to stem smuggling — on prices will be “reactionary and temporary.”
Food inflation quickened to 14.5% from 14.1% in October. The price of imported rice, Nigeria’s preferred staple, has risen since August, after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the border closures.
The International Monetary Fund warned last month Nigeria will experience further inflationary pressures due to excess liquidity in the banking system, driven by negative real yields on short-term government bonds.