Nigeria's Inflation Rate Hits 13.22%

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has published inflation figures for the month of August, which has shown it rising to 13.22 per cent.

NBS said in the published report on Tuesday that, “The consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation increased by 13.22 percent (year-on-year) in August 2020.

“This is 0.40 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in July 2020 (12.82 percent).”

Increases were recorded in all COICOP divisions that yielded the Headline index.

On a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 1.34 per cent in August 2020.

This is 0.09 percent higher than the rate recorded in July 2020 (1.25 per cent).

The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending August 2020 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 12.23 per cent, representing a 0.18 per cent point rise from 12.05 per cent recorded in July 2020.

The composite food index rose by 16.00 per cent in August 2020 compared to 15.48 per cent in July 2020.

On month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.67 per cent in August 2020, up by 0.15 per cent points from 1.52 per cent recorded in July 2020.

The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the 12-month period ending August 2020 over the previous twelve-month average was 14.87 percent, representing a 0.24 percent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in July 2020 (14.63 percent).

This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Potatoes, Yam and other tubers, Meat, Fish, Fruits, Oils and fats and Vegetables.

On month on month basis however, all items inflation was highest in Ondo (2.20%), Ogun (2.07 per cent) and Abia (1.87 per cent), while Plateau (0.72 per cent), Zamfara (0.60 per cent) and Sokoto (0.54 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in headline month on month inflation.

In August 2020, all items index on year on year basis was highest in Kogi (17.29 per cent), Bauchi (15.77 per cent) and Ebonyi and Yobe (14.71 per cent), while Lagos (11.45 per cent), Kwara (11.22 per cent) and Abuja (11.17 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in headline Year on Year inflation.

In analysing price movements under this section, note that the CPI is weighted by consumption expenditure patterns which differ across states.

Accordingly, the weight assigned to a particular food or non-food item may differ from state to state making interstate comparisons of consumption basket inadvisable and potentially misleading.