LAGOS: Nigeria's annual inflation dropped to 10.4 percent on a 12-month basis in September from 11 percent in August, the National Bureau of Statistics said Saturday.

"The composite consumer price index or CPI rose 10.4 percent year-on-year in September 2009 and it is slower than the 11 percent increase recorded in the previous month," the agency said, giving no reason for the decrease.

"The monthly change of the CPI was 0.5 percent increase in September 2009," it added.

Nigerian inflation had risen steadily since the second quarter of last year, standing at 9.7 percent in May before soaring to 14 percent in July owing to the effects of the global food crisis.

Nigeria had managed to slow inflation for most of 2006 and 2007 through belt-tightening measures to achieve a single-digit rate.

Such measures included a stable exchange rate for the national currency, as well as fiscal discipline.