The Monetary tightening policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria has kept the country’s inflation rate for the month of November unchanged at 10.5 per cent.

The Composite Consumer Price Index figure was released, on Monday, in Abuja by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The apex bank had within the last 11 months unveiled monetary tightening measures aimed at curbing public spending, thus keeping inflation at a moderate level.

Prior to its last Monetary Policy Committee meeting on November 21, it had raised the monetary policy rate six times in a bid to address inflationary threats.

The MPR, which is the anchor rate at which the CBN lends to Deposit Money Banks, was 6.25 per cent on January 25 this year.

But the CBN raised it to 6.50 per cent in March; 7.5 per cent in April; eight per cent in May; 8.75 per cent in July; 9.25 per cent in September and 12 per cent on October 10, 2011.  

The apex bank, however, left the MPR unchanged at 12 per cent at its last meeting, saying any further tightening would be “counter-productive and pro-cyclical should oil price fall significantly.”

The apex bank had said that a combination of small fiscal adjustments and moderate depreciation in the exchange rate of the naira should compensate for maintaining current interest rate stance.

But the NBS said while there was a sharp increase in the prices of some imported food items in November, this was moderated by the stable and lower price of some locally produced food products due to the prevailing harvest season.

It said, “The CPI, which measures inflation, rose to 10.5 per cent year-on-year in November 2011. This is the same as 10.5 per cent recorded in the previous month.  

“Furthermore, despite rises in food prices in a few parts in November 2011 relative to October 2011, more areas across the country witnessed stable prices compared to previous month due to the fact that it is harvest season resulting in an increase in the supply of several food items in November.”

It added, “In other words, despite the significant rise in imported food, the inflation rate was moderated by the low change in the overall food index.”

The bureau said the high prices of non-alcoholic beverages, clothing and footwear, kerosene, diesel and transport were the biggest contributor to inflation figure.

Source: Punch/Ifeanyi Onuba