Nigeria’s inflation rate fell more than expected in September as headline inflation slowed to 14.63% from 15.39% in August, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
That is 6.35 percentage points below the 20.98% recorded a year earlier.
Prices rose just 0.06% from August, down from 0.71% the month before. The consumer price index edged up to 146.38 from 146.30.
The figures give the central bank room to keep easing, though rising energy costs are still pushing up underlying prices.
The reading surprised analysts, who had expected higher fuel prices to push inflation up. Meristem Research had forecast 15.40%.
Core inflation, which strips out farm produce and energy, slowed to 12.95% from 13.29%. Food inflation held almost unchanged at 19.59% a year on year, even though food prices fell 1.55% during the month.
The NBS attributed the drop to cheaper local rice, maize flour, guinea corn flour, onions, palm oil, tomatoes, okra, potatoes, plantain and eggs.
Farm produce prices fell 2.86% month on month.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages still contributed 5.85 percentage points of the headline rate, about 40% of it. Restaurants and accommodation added 1.89 points and transport 1.56 points.
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