The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that Nigeria’s inflation rate for the month of January this year was 12.13 percent.
The NBS said in its monthly report on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation that the figure represented 0.15 percent points higher than 11.98 percent recorded in December 2019.
It noted that on month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 0.87 percent in January 2020, this is 0.02 percent rate higher than the rate recorded in December 2019 (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 12 months period was 11.46 percent, showing 0.06 percent point from 11.40 percent recorded in December 2019,’’ the NBS said.
According to the report, the composite food index rose by 14.85 percent in January 2020 compared to 14.67 percent in December 2019.
It explained that the 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 0.97 percent in January 2020, up by 0.02 percent points from 0.97 percent recorded in December 2019.
“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.
“The ‘All items less farm produce’ or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 9.35 percent in January 2020, up by 0.02 percent when compared with 9.33 percent recorded in December 2019. On month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased by 0.82 percent in January 2020. This was up by 0.01 percent when compared with 0.81 percent recorded in December 2019,” the NBS added.
GIK/APA