November 17, 2023.
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The recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics has revealed that the headline inflation rate in October 2023, increased to 27.33% relative to the September 2023 headline inflation rate which was 26.72%.
The National Bureau of Statistics NBS explained that the figure is 0.9 percent short of the 28.2 percent recorded 18 years ago, in August 2005.
In a report released on Wednesday, the NBS said, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.24 percent higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022, which was (21.09 percent).
“The increase in the headline index for October 2023 was attributed to the increase in some items in the basket of goods and services at the divisional level.
“These increases were observed in Food and non-alcoholic Beverages (14.16%), Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & other Fuel (4.57%), Clothing & Footwear (2.09%), Transport (1.78%), Furnishings & Household Equipment and maintenance (1.37%), Education (1.08%) and Health (0.82%). Others are Miscellaneous Goods & Services (0.45%), Restaurants & Hotels (0.33%), Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco & Kola (0.30%), Recreation & Culture (0.19%) and Communication (0.19).”
The NBS explained that increase in food prices, transport costs pushed the inflation to 25.80%.
Similarly, it said food sub-index for October 2023 increased to 31.52% on a year-on-year basis, which was 7.80% points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022 (23.72%).
It said the rise in food inflation was due to increases in prices of bread & cereals, oil & fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables and milk, cheese, and eggs.
“However, on a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in October 2023 was 1.91%. This was 0.54% lower compared to the rate recorded in September 2023 (2.45%). The decline in food inflation was caused by a decrease in the average prices of Fruits, oil and fat, coffee, tea and cocoa, bread and cereals.” (www.naija247news.com).
