The uptick in the Consumer price Index (CPI) figure will linger into January, Professor Uche Uwaleke has said.
According to the Chair of the department of banking and finance in Nasarawa State, the figures may likely worsen when the next CPI report is released in February.
Speaking with Blueprint in Abuja, Nigeria’s first professor of the Capital Market, noted that the figures will however begin a gradual climb down from February or by March this year.
He said the figures in “December should not come as a surprise considering that the month is characterized by increase in the demand for goods especially food.
“I expect the ‘Santa Claus’ effect to linger into January 2019 which is likely to record a higher inflation rate.
“This explains why the rise in the inflation rate from 11.28 per cent in November 2018 to 11.44 per cent in December came from the increase in the volatile food index from 13.30 per cent to 13.56 per cent while the core index remained same at 9.8 per cent.
It is also vital to note that the food items that increased in price were chiefly those that are usually in high demand during festive periods such as soft drinks, fish, cereals and tubers.
Expected, he said, “Improvements in food supply, power and transport infrastructure in particular as well as stability in exchange rate given the country’s huge external reserves needed to defend the naira will help the government achieve its single digit inflation target of 9.98 percent contained in the 2019 budget.