Nigeria inflation slows in Oct for first time since Nov 2014

Pulse Staff 14:06 - 15 November 2015

A trader changes dollars with naira at a currency exchange store in Lagos February 12, 2015. REUTERS/Joe Penney

Food inflation also edged lower in October to 10.1 percent year-on-year versus 10.2 percent the previous month.

Nigeria's consumer inflation was 9.3 percent year on year in October compared with 9.4 percent in September, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed, marking the first slow down since November 2014.

Inflation in Africa's biggest oil producer had been steadily rising since the end of last year as the crash in global crude prices sent its currency, the naira, tumbling. Inflation crossed the central bank's upper target of 9 percent earlier this year.

The central bank has devalued the naira twice in the last year but the government is against more. Foreign exchange restrictions were imposed in June to preserve its foreign reserves and with a hope to reignite local industry.