From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday, said that the inflation rate in December, 2021 increased by 15.63 per cent as against November’s 15.40 per cent.
This is against bookmakers’ prediction that December inflation would follow the deceleration trend which has been the order since March, 2021.
The inflation rate in Nigeria has maintained a consecutive decline in the year-on-year headline inflation rate for a period of eight months, from the month of April 2021 with an interesting trajectory as follows:
April (18.12 per cent), May (17.93 per cent), June ( 17.75 per cent), July (17.38 per cent), August 17.01 per cent), September (16.63 per cent), October (15.99 per cent), and November ( 15.40 per cent).
Speaking when he released the December Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures the inflation rate, the Statistician General of the Federation, Dr Simon Harry, said that the rate broke the eight months trend of decline.
“However, it may interest you to note that this trend has been broken by the slight change in the month of December, 2021 as the inflation rate for all items (headline inflation) for the month increased to 15.63 per cent, year-on-year. Although, this is a decline when compared to the corresponding month in 2020 which recorded 15.75 per cent. This trend clearly shows an increase from 15.40 per cent recorded in the month of November, 2021 to 15.63 per cent in December, 2021. This is 0.23 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in November, 2021. The change in the declining trend for about eight months might have been caused by the increase in prices of goods and services as a result of increase in their demand during the month under review, being a festive season. On month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 1.82 per cent in December 2021. This is 0.74 per cent rate higher than the rate recorded in November 2021, which was 1.08 per cent.
“The urban inflation rate increased to 16.17 per cent (year-on-year) in December, 2021 from 16.33 per cent recorded in December 2020, down by 0.16 per cent points, while the rural inflation rate increased to 15.11 per cent in December, 2021 from 15.20 per cent in December 2020, which was lower by 0.09 per cent points. On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose to 1.87 per cent in December 2021, which was higher by 0.75 per cent points of the rate recorded in November 2021 which was 1.12 per cent, while the rural index also rose to 1.77 per cent in December, 2021, higher by 0.73 per cent points of the rate that was recorded in November 2021, which was 1.04 per cent. The corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index was 17.52 per cent in December, 2021. This is lower than the rate reported in November of the same year which was 17.55 per cent, while the corresponding twelve-month (month-on-month) average percentage change for rural index inflation rate in December, 2021 stood at 16.40 per cent from 16.42 per cent in November, 2021.
“In summary and in attempt to make comparison between the December and November, 2021 figures, it is important to note that headline Inflation for the month of December was 15.63 per cent, while that of November was 15.40 per cent” he said.
