Nigeria, Sept. 15 -- Nigeria's annual inflation slowed in August for a fifth straight month to 17.01 per cent after the rate at which food prices increased fell, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.

The announcement comes ahead of Friday's meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria's monetary policy committee which will decide on the benchmark lending rate.

The headline inflation fell from 17.38 per cent recorded in July, while food price inflation, its major component, slowed in August to 20.30 per cent.

Core inflation, which excludes prices of food, fell to 13.41 per cent.

Nigeria's inflation has been in double digits since 2016, but became worse with border closure, COVID-19 crisis, insecurity, and repeated devaluation of ...