Nigerian businesses and households expect the inflation rate to rise in the next one to six months.

This is according to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s July Inflation Expectations Survey Report released on Tuesday.

The survey showed that respondents expect inflation to rise in the review months with indices of 37.4 for the next month, -26.3 for the next two months and -15.8 for the next six months.

However, the report showed respondents expect the inflation rate to gradually reduce over the next six months.

A further analysis indicated that businesses anticipate that the inflation rate will drop compared to households, with indices of -33.4 and -11.0 points for the next month and next six months respectively.

“Overall, both businesses and households believe that the inflation rate will rise further in the periods”, the survey stated.

It added that the expected inflation rate hike will be driven primarily by changes in energy prices, exchange rates and transportation costs.

The reports come weeks after Nigeria’s inflation declined to 33.40 percent in July, from 34.19 percent in June.

In the past months, the apex bank had continued to tighten Monetary policy measures such as the interest rate which stood at 26.75 percent to tame the inflation rate.