In August of this year, the inflation rate of Nigeria rose to 13.22 percent, which represents the highest number in the last 29 months. Before this, the highest number was recorded in March of 2018, as the inflation was as much as 13.24 percent.
The National Bureau of Statistics in Nigeria released a special statement about this matter. August’s inflation is 0.40% higher than the rate recorded in the month previous. In July 2020, the inflation rate was 12.82 percent. If we look at it as a month-on-month basis, the inflation rate has increased as much as 1.34 percent.
The inflation rate in the country will have a huge effect on many fields of the economy. According to some experts, the situation is getting very hard for people in the country.
To overcome the challenges, many companies in the market are trying to come up with ways to relieve stress. Forex trading is a very prominent field in the country, and many local and international brokers are trying to help Nigeria overcome the challenges.
Because of today’s situation, many brokers in the country are pushed to restart their promotions as a quick rebound of the exchange rate is being anticipated. Many brokers on the market, including XM in particular, have renewed some of their promotions. This Forex broker is once again offering XM welcome bonus to the local Forex traders in Nigeria, which gives them the ability to trade Forex without having to use their own funds, therefore reducing the risk just a little bit.
In Nigeria, there are many Forex brokers who are trying to use all of their abilities to help the economy of the country.
What are the fields most affected by inflation?
According to the official data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, one of the most closely watched components of the inflation index is food inflation. According to this study, it stood at 16 percent in August of this year.
Last month, it was about 15.48 percent. As the study shows the month-to-month inflation has increased by 1.67 percent, which is a huge number. The increase was mostly influenced by the prices of Bread and cereals, Potatoes, yam and other tubers, Meat, Fish, Fruits, Oils and fats, and Vegetables as well.
The inflation for August was mostly driven by a recorded increase in prices of Passenger transport by air, hospital services, medical services, pharmaceutical products, maintenance, and repair of personal transport equipment.
As Nigerians continue to struggle with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic reopening, commodity prices such as air transport and medical services appear to have been affected by policies introduced to curb the spread of COVID-19 within the country.
The Covid-19 pandemic haდ a huge impact on Nigeria and its economy. Over the last few months, because a huge part of the economy was closed down, the country went through some tough times.
Oil crisis & Nigeria
Oil represents one of the biggest parts of the economy of Nigeria. Because of the Oil crises and prices coming down significantly, the economy of the country struggled a lot. The inflation rate has increased a lot because of the oil crisis, and it also affected many other countries around the world.
To overcome the challenges that the country had, the leadership of Nigeria had to come up with new ideas to help the country adapt to the changes. One of the things that the president did was that he announced that the imports of some things would be banned in the country.
Previously, the ban on rice, which was done to make sure that the country could overcome the challenges, ended up creating more problems. Nigeria simply does not have enough recourses to support its more than 200 million people. Because of the ban, the prices on rice skyrocketed, ban on other food will create more challenges as well.
However, as the president says, there is not much else that can be done in this regard and as he said, the ban on imports can help the national currency to stabilize. As the National Bureau of Statistics reported, the amount of money that the country has spent on food imports in 2015 was $2.9 billion, which was increased to $4.1 billion as of 2017. The numbers are increasing constantly, and the ban could somehow help this problem in the long run.
What is inflation?
In general, inflation measures the average price change in a basket of commodities and services over time. Inflation is mostly expressed as a percentage, and the most inflation indexes are the Consumer Price Index, CPI, and the Wholesale Price Index, WPI. It can be viewed positively and negatively, and it depends on the individual viewpoint and rate of change.