(Ecofin Agency) - In March, annual inflation slumped to 17.26% from 17.78% in February, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows.

According to the statistics office, this is the second consecutive month the figure drops in more 16 months. This results mainly from the central bank's intervention on currency market, the office said on Thursday. Indeed, since February, the Apex bank has been injecting dollars in the market (more than $4 billion) to overcome shortage and reduce the gap between the exchange rates of the black and official markets. 

The new decrease, the NBS believes, reflects “the effects of stabilizing prices in already high food and non-food prices”. “It is also indicative of early effects of a strengthened naira in the foreign exchange rate market”, it added.

Driven last year into recession – the first in 25 years – by low prices of oil, Nigeria’s main export, the country is currently battered by dollar shortages. This caused a surged in general price levels which significantly hampered the economy and slowed businesses.

Regarding March's inflation rate, the statistics office said a separate food index put the figure at 18.44% from 18.53% in February.