Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), yesterday said that inflation rose by 12.13 per cent, in January 2020 as against 11.98% in December 2019.
According to a document obtained from the bureau’s website, high food price was the main cause of inflation.
“The composite food index rose by 14.85 per cent in January 2020 compared to 14.67 per cent in December 2019.
This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, meat, oils and fats,
potatoes, yam and other tubers and fish” it said.
The increase, the bureau, said, is 0.15 per cent higher than the rate recorded in December 2019 (11.98 per cent).
On a month-on-month basis, it said, the headline index increased by 0.87 per cent in January 2020. This is 0.02 per cent rate higher than the rate recorded in December 2019 (0.85) per cent.
“The percentage change in the average composite Composite Price Index (CPI) for the 12 months period ending January 2020 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 11.46 per cent, showing 0.06 per cent point from 11.40 per cent recorded in December 2019.
“The corresponding 12-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 11.92
per cent in January 2020. This is higher than 11.83 per cent reported in December 2019, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in January 2020 is 11.04 per cent compared to 11.00 per cent recorded in December 2019″ NBS, said.
The ”all items less farm produce” or core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural
produce stood at 9.35 per cent in January 2020, up by 0.02 per cent when compared with 9.33 per cent
recorded in December 2019.
On a month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased by 0.82 per cent in January 2020. This was up by 0.01 per cent when compared with 0.81 per cent recorded in December 2019.
The highest increases were recorded in prices of hospital services, vehicle spare parts, cleaning, repair
and hire of clothing, shoes and other footwear, glassware, tableware and household utensil, hairdressing
saloons and personal grooming establishments, repair and hire of footwear, garments and passenger
transport by air.
The average 12-month annual rate of change of the index was 9.11 per cent for the 12-month period
ending January 2020; this is 0.04 per cent points lower than 9.15 per cent recorded in December 2019.
Recall that CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living. The construction of the CPI combines economic theory, sampling and other statistical techniques using data from other surveys to produce a weighted measure of average price changes in the Nigerian economy.