THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has decried the high rate of inflation in the economy as inflation rate peaked at 8.2 per cent in April.
The apex bank’s April 2008 report released at the weekend showed that the 8.2 per cent inflation rate was high compared to 7.8 per cent in the preceding month.
According to the report, inflation on a year-on-year basis showed an increase of 0.3 per cent from 5.8 per cent in March 2007 to 6.1 per cent in April 2008.
The CBN, alarmed by the development, attributed it to the rising cost of food items, household goods, kerosene and building materials.
In the month under review, the CBN said the external reserves stood at $60.82 billion, an increase of 1.8 per cent and 39.7 per cent with the levels of $59.76 billion and $43.5 billion recorded in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2007.
In the banking sector, credit to the domestic economy rose by 23.9 per cent to N3, 601.86 billion in April 2008 compared with an increase of 3.0 per cent in the preceding month.
According to the CBN, the increase was due to the seven per cent increase in claims to the private sector. In the same vein, banking system credit to the Federal Government rose by 5.2 per cent compared to 3.2 per cent in the preceding month.
The increase, the apex bank said, was attributable to the increase in claims (35.2 per cent) by the Deposit Money Banks. For the private sector, the credit gathered within the period under review stood at N6, 495.8 billion, a five per cent increase compared with the 7.3 per cent in the preceding month
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