Abuja, Aug 16 (IANS): Nigeria's headline inflation rate declined to 33.40 per cent in July after a persistent rise in almost two years, the latest report released by the country's statistics bureau showed.

The consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, declined by 0.8 per cent compared to the 34.19 per cent recorded in June, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the National Bureau of Statistics.

"This means that in July, the rate of increase in the average price level is lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in June," the report read in part, noting that the development marked the first decline in headline inflation rate since December 2022.

On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate in July was 9.32 per cent higher than the rate recorded in July 2023, at 24.08 per cent, according to the report. On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in July was 2.28 per cent, some 0.03 per cent lower than the rate recorded in June at 2.31 per cent.

Last month, the Nigerian government attributed several factors, including the prevailing insecurity in food-producing areas and the high cost of transportation of farm produce, to the inflationary trend in the most populous African country.