Ebuka Daniel
The National Bureau of Statistics has said that Nigeria’s inflation rate declined for the seventh consecutive month to 15.99 per cent in October
The Statistician General of the Federation, Simon Harry disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while presenting the details of the Consumer Price Index report for October.
The claim by the NBS contradicts the current economic realities in the country where the prices of food and services have been trending upwards.
In recent times, the skyrocketing food prices in major cities across the country are being reported with deleterious effects on household budgets.
The series of insurgencies bedeviling the country, especially in the Northern part and pockets of dissentions in some states where most of the essential food items for the nation come from, have also adversely contributed to the ill reports about the astronomic rise for a range of food materials
But the NBS in its latest report claimed that the inflation rate fell by 0.37 per cent from 16.36 per cent in September.
The CEO of the NBS said that on a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 0.98 percent in October 2021, adding that this is 0.17 percent rate lower than the 1.15 per cent recorded in September 2021.
He also disclosed that farm produce such as bread, cereals, cocoa, meat, coffee, tea and cocoa drove food inflation, which fell to 18.3 per cent in October from 19.57 percent in September.
He said, ” The consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation increased by 15.99 percent (year-on-year) in Octo[1]ber 2021.
“This is 1.76 percent points higher than the rate recorded in October 2020 (14.23) percent.
“On month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 0.98 percent in October 2021, this is 0.17 per[1]cent rate lower than the rate recorded in September 2021 (1.15) percent.
“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending October 2021 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 16.96 percent, showing 0.13 percent point from 16.83 percent recorded in September 2021.”
