National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday, said that inflation rose by 11.61 per cent (year-on-year) in October 2019 from 11.24 per cent recorded in September, 2019 with major increases recorded in food. On a year-on-year basis, the composite food index rose by 14.09 per cent in October 2019 compared to 13.51 per cent in September 2019. 

“This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of meat, oils and fats, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish and vegetables. On a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.33 per cent in October 2019, up by 0.03 percentage points from 1.30 per cent recorded in September 2019. The average annual rate of change of the food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending October 2019 over the previous twelve-month average was 13.54 per cent, equivalent to 0.07 percentage points higher than the average annual rate of change recorded in September 2019 (13.47 per cent)” the document which was obtained from NBS website, said.

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According to the document, increases were equally recorded in all the 12 Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index. On month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 1.07 per cent in October 2019, or 0.03 percentage points higher than the rate recorded in September 2019 (1.04 per cent).