UPDATED: Inflation rises to 17.33%, highest in four years

Inflation rate in Nigeria has risen to 17.33 per cent, the highest in four years, according to the latest statistics on the issue from the National Bureau of Statistics.

It stated that the consumer price index, measuring the rate of increase in the price of goods and services, increased to 17.33 percent in February.

This is the highest point since April 2017.

According to the CPI/Inflation report released by the NBS on Tuesday, the food inflation stood at 21.79 per cent, the highest point since the 2009 data series began.

On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 1.54 per cent in February 2021. This is 0.05 per cent rate higher than the rate recorded in January 2021 (1.49 per cent.

The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12-month period ending February 2021 over the average of the CPI for the previous period was 14.05 per cent, showing 0.43 per cent point from 13.62 per cent recorded in January 2021.

The urban inflation rate increased by 17.92 per cent (year-on-year) in February 2021 from 17.03 per cent recorded in January 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased by 16.77 per cent in February 2021 from 15.92 per cent in January 2021.

On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.58 per cent, up by 0.06 the rate recorded in January 2021, while the rural index rose by 1.50 per cent, up by 0.04 the rate that was recorded in January 2021 (1.46) per cent.

The corresponding 12-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 14.66 percent in February 2021.

This is higher than 14.23 per cent reported in January 2021, while the corresponding rural inflation rate is 13.48 per cent compared to 13.04 per cent recorded in January 2021.

Food

The composite food index rose by 21.79 per cent in February 2021 compared to 20.57 per cent in January 2021.

This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, meat, food products such as fruits, vegetable, fish and oils and fats.

On a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.89 per cent, up by 0.06 per cent from 1.83 per cent recorded in January 2021.

The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the 12-month period ending February 2021 over the previous 12-month average was 17.25 per cent, 0.59 per cent from the average annual rate of change recorded in January 2021 (16.66) percent.

The “All items less farm produce” or core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 12.38 per cent in February 2021, up by 0.53 per cent when compared with 11.85 per cent in the previous month.

On a month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased by 1.21 per cent in February 2021. This was down by 0.05 per cent when compared with 1.26 per cent recorded in January 2021.

The highest increases were recorded in the cost of passenger transport by air, medical services, miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling, hospital services, passenger transport by road, pharmaceutical products, paramedical services, repair of furniture, vehicle spare parts, maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment, motor cars, dental services and hairdressing salons and personal grooming establishment,

The average 12-month annual rate of change of the index was 10.77 per cent for the 12-month period ending February 2021. This is 0.25 per cent higher than 10.52 per cent recorded in January 2021.

States

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.

All items inflation

In February 2021, all items inflation on a year-on-year basis were highest in Kogi (24.73 per cent), Bauchi (22.92 per cent) and Ebonyi (20.45 per cent), while Enugu (14.73 per cent), Kwara (14.25 per cent) and Cross River (12.97 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in headline year-on-year inflation.

On a month-on-month basis, however, in February 2021 all items inflation was highest in Kogi (3.25 per cent), Ondo (2.46 per cent) and Kebbi (2.43 per cent), while Kwara (0.84 per cent), Kano (0.70 per cent) and Oyo (0.38 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in headline inflation month on month.