Nigeria inflation rises to 2-year high on food prices

Nigeria's consumer inflation rose to 9.0 percent year-on-year in May, the upper end of a central bank target, from 8.7 percent in April, marking the highest rate since May 2013, the national statistics office said.

Food inflation edged higher to 9.8 percent year-on-year in May, up 0.3 percentage points from April, due to the late onset of rains which pushed back the harvest season and a hike in transport costs because of a fuel shortage, it said.

"Food prices rose by 1.1 percent in May, the highest month-on-month increase recorded on food prices since September 2012," the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.

Major cities in Africa's biggest economy are still suffering from crippling gasoline shortages despite the end of a fuel distribution strike.

After negotiations last Friday with the new administration, fuel will become available both at state-owned retail stations and those owned by major and independent marketers, who are still not importing due to money owed them by the government, to reduce the queues of double-parked cars.

The dispute over subsidy payments disrupted services including telecom services, banking and aviation in May, as Nigeria, which does not have sufficient refining capacity, relies almost wholly on imports.

The NBS in March said it expected inflation to inch up to around 9 percent this year, from its January forecast of 8.78 for 2015, following a currency devaluation meant to counter the effects of lower revenues from crude oil, Nigeria's main export.