Barely one month after the federal government shut its land borders the Consumer Price Index (CPI) released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday showed inflation index soared to 11.24 per cent in September, compared to August figure of 11.02 per cent.
The report stated that increases were recorded in all the divisions that determined the index.
It said the rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, oils and fats, meat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish and vegetables.
It said the food index rose by 13.51 per cent in September compared to 13.17 per cent in August.
The increase in CPI figure is 0.22 per cent point higher than the rate recorded in August 2019 (11.02) per cent. Increases were recorded in all COICOP divisions that yielded the Headline index.
On month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 1.04 per cent in September 2019, this is 0.05 per cent rate higher than the rate recorded in August 2019 (0.99 per cent).
“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending September 2019 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 11.268 per cent, showing 0.003 per cent point from 11.271 per cent recorded in August 2019.
“On month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.30 per cent in September 2019, up by 0.08 per cent points from 1.22 per cent recorded in August 2019. The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the 12-month period ending September 2019 over the previous 12-month average was 13.47 per cent, 0.01 per cent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in August 2019 (13.46 per cent),” NBS said.
It added that all items less farm produce or core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 8.94 per cent in September 2019, up by 0.26 per cent when compared with 8.68 per cent recorded in August 2019.
“On month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased by 0.89 per cent in September 2019. This was up by 0.22 per cent when compared with 0.67 per cent recorded in August 2019. The highest increases were recorded in prices of cleaning, repair and hire of clothing, repair of household appliance, hospital services, major household appliances, glassware, tableware and household utensils, spirits, clothing materials, other articles of clothing accessories, garment and repair and hire of footwear.
The average 12-month annual rate of change of the index was 9.34 per cent for the 12-month period ending September 2019; this is 0.07 per cent points lower than 9.41 per cent recorded in August 2019.
In state-by-state analysis of food inflation trend, in September 2019, NBS data revealed that all items inflation on year-on-year basis was highest in Kebbi (14.09%), Bauchi (13.74%) and Plateau (13.25%), while Delta (9.72%), Bayelsa (9.40%) and Kwara (8.46%) recorded the slowest rise in headline year-on-year inflation.
On month-on-month basis, however, all items inflation was highest in Kogi (3.18%), Ondo (2.17%) and Kwara (2.02%), while Kano (0.45%), Rivers (0.41%) and Zamfara (0.33%) recorded the slowest rise.
Similarly, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Niger (16.65%), Nasarawa (16.57%) and Abuja (16.31%), while Akwa Ibom (11.72%), Benue (11.22%) and Bayelsa (9.95%) recorded the slowest rise.
On month-on-month basis, however, September 2019 food inflation was highest in Kogi (4.90%), Delta (3.82%) and Kwara (3.70%), while Kano (0.18%) and Zamfara (0.17%) recorded the slowest rise with Rivers recording price deflation or negative inflation.
