IMF: Nigeria’s inflation will remain double digits in 2018/19

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that Nigeria’s inflation will remain in the double digits in 2018.

In the April edition of its World Economic Outlook unveiled on Tuesday at the ongoing Spring meetings in Washington DC, the Bretton Wood institution said inflation rate will, however, moderate in both years.

“Inflation in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to moderate slightly in 2018 and 2019 but is expected to remain in double digits in key large economies, reflecting the pass-through effects of currency depreciation and their impact on inflation expectations
(Angola), supply factors, and assumed monetary policy accommodation to support fiscal policy (Nigeria),” the report read.

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had expressed hopes that inflation would hit single digit in 2018.

“We are very optimistic that food prices will come down, and as they come down it will help to complement the reduction in core inflation,” he said on October 27.

“We are hoping that by the middle of next year we should begin to approach the high single digits.”

Addressing journalists at the meetings, Maurice Obstfeld, IMF’s chief economist, said things did not look too good for the global economy beyond 2020.

The glimmer of hope, according to him, is the trend of increasing trade agreements amongst countries giving the example of the Africa Continental Free Trade agreement (AfCTA).