Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The consumer price index (CPI), which measures inflation in Nigeria, showed that it increased by 12.13 percent (year-on-year) in January 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday, February 18.
This latest number, according to the stats office, is 0.15 percent points higher than the rate recorded in December 2019 at 11.98 percent, saying this was spurred by rise in food items, planned increased in Value Added Taxes (VAT) and the continuous border closure.
According to the NBS, the composite food index also rose by 14.85 percent in January 2020 compared with 14.67 percent 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.
On month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 0.99 in January 2020, up by 0.02 percent points from 0.97 percent recorded in December 2019.
According to the NBS on Tuesday, the average annual rate of change of the food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending January 2020 over the previous twelve-month average was 13.86 percent, 0.12 percent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in December 2019 (13.74) percent.
Increases were recorded across all the 12 Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the Headline index
It was also disclosed that the Headline index month-on-month basis increased by 0.87 percent in January 2020, indicating a 0.02 percent rate higher than the rate recorded in December 2019 pf 0.85 percent.
The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending January 2020 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 11.46 percent, showing 0.06 percent point from 11.40 percent recorded in December 2019.
The corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 11.92 percent in January 2020. This is higher than 11.83 percent reported in December 2019, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in January 2020 is 11.04 percent compared to 11.00 percent recorded in December 2019.
