ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s inflation rate rose for the second straight month in October, advancing to 33.88% in annual terms from 32.70% in September, data from the statistics agency showed on Friday.
Inflation quickened sharply in the second half of last year after President Bola Tinubu devalued the country’s naira currency and cut subsidies to try to lift economic growth and shore up public finances.
It started to ease in July this year as the impact of the naira devaluation began to fade, before a series of petrol price increases again spurred inflationary pressures, exacerbating the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades in Africa’s most populous nation.
The central bank has hiked interest rates five times this year to try to get inflation under control. It holds another rate-setting meeting later this month.
(Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; Additional reporting by Mohd Edrees in Bengaluru; Editing by Alexander Winning)
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