…CONSUMPTION RAISES INFLATION RATE TO 12.82%
AMINA HUSSAINI
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday reported the highest inflation rate for Nigeria in 27 months.
The NBS, in its consumer price index (CPI) report for July 2020, said Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 12.82 percent in July from the preceding month’s level of 12.56 percent.
The latest inflation rate is the m highest recorded by Nigeria since March 2018 when the headline inflation was 13.34 percent.
The July inflation rate, according to the Bureau, was fueled by general rise in consumption.
The NBS said, “Increases were recorded in all classification of individual consumption according to purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.
“The headline index increased by 1.25 percent in July 2020 on month-on-month basis. This is 0.04 percent rate higher than the rate recorded in June 2020 (1.21) percent.
“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending July 2020 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 12.05 percent, representing a 0.15 percent point increase from 11.90 percent recorded in June 2020.”
The Bureau further noted that composite food index rose by 15.48 percent in July 2020 compared to 15.18 percent in June 2020.
It explained that the rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, meat, fruits, oils and fats, and fish.
Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce, stood at 10.10 percent in July 2020, down by 0.03 percent when compared with 10.13 percent recorded in June 2020.
The highest increases were recorded in prices of medical services, passenger transport by air, pharmaceutical products, hospital services, passenger transport by road, maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment, paramedical services and vehicle spare parts.
The NBS also stated that urban inflation rate increased by 13.40 percent (year-on-year) in July 2020 from 13.18 percent recorded in June 2020, while the rural inflation rate increased by 12.28 percent in July 2020 from 11.99 percent in June 2020.
It added that all items inflation on year on year basis was highest in Bauchi (16.10%), Kogi (15.90%) and Sokoto and Plateau (15.20%), while Lagos (10.70%), Adamawa (10.60%) and Kwara (10.50%) recorded the slowest rise in headline Year on Year inflation.
On month on month basis, however, all items inflation was highest in Kogi (2.85%) in July 2020, Zamfara (2.44%) and Yobe (2.35%), while Ondo (0.67%), Adamawa (0.63%) and Ogun and Imo (0.62%) recorded the slowest rise in headline month on month inflation.
In July 2020, food inflation on a year on year basis was highest in Kogi (20.09%), Sokoto (19.28%) and Plateau(18.05%),while Adamawa (13.37%), Abia (13.33%) and Lagos(13.13%) recorded the slowest rise.
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