The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Inflation Expectations Survey Report for April 2025 has revealed that most firms believe that the level of inflation, which was high in April, will be stable in May.

According to the report, released on Friday, the survey indicates that 70 percent of respondents perceived the inflation rate as high in April compared with 69.9 percent in the preceding month.

Specifically, the report said: “Analysis of business size reveals that while firms most commonly perceived inflation as high in April 2025 (77.6%), medium-sized businesses reported the highest proportion, viewing inflation as moderate, (22.5 per cent).”

The report also shows that a higher proportion of rural residents viewed inflation as moderating last month, while more urban settlers believed that inflation was high.

Further analysis of the survey’s findings by income distribution shows that more households earning above N200, 000 per month believed that inflation was moderating last month compared to other income groups.

For income groups earning N30, 001 to N100,000, the report data shows they mostly perceived inflation to be high.

It also shows that all the respondents (businesses and households) believed that energy cost, transportation cost, exchange rate and interest rate influenced their perception of the inflation rate last month.

The report added that more businesses, compared with households, expected their expenditure to increase last month in line with the inflation expectation.

However, it said that both businesses and households anticipate increased expenditure over the next six months.

Meanwhile, the Business Expectations Survey Report for April 2025 also released by the apex bank on Friday, shows that all sectors expressed optimism about the macro-economy last month.

The report further said: “Across all time frames, the positive trajectory of the Confidence Index (CI), a measure of overall business sentiment, reflects a broad-based optimism among respondent firms regarding the macroeconomic outlook.

“This sentiment appears to be driven by favourable expectations surrounding the exchange rate, suggesting that exchange rate stability remains a key driver of private sector confidence.”

However, the report said that: “Respondents identified high interest rate, insufficient power supply, high taxes, insecurity, financial problems and high bank charges as top business constraints in March 2025.”