Nigeria’s Statistician-General, Dr. Simon Harry, has said that the country’s inflation rate for the month of December 2021 rose to 15.63 percent as against 15.50 percent recorded in November, 2021.
Dr. Harry told journalists on Monday in Abuja that the data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the headline inflation had been on a downward trajectory since April 2021 and that the trend was broken in December when year-on-year inflation climbed 0.23 points higher than the figure recorded in November.
He said that the inflation rate recorded in December 2021 decreased when compared to the corresponding month in 2020, which recorded 15.75 percent.
Local media reports quoted Harry as saying that the increase recorded in December 2021 was due to the increase in prices of goods and services driven by increased demand during the month, which was a festive season.
He noted that food inflation, which is the composite food index, rose by 17.37 percent in December 2021, down by 2.19 percent points when compared to 19.56 percent recorded in December 2020.
The rise in the food index, according to him, is caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products, meat, fish, potatoes, yam and other tubers, soft drinks and fruits.
“On a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 2.19 percent in December 2021, up by 1.12 percent points from 1.07 percent recorded in November 2021,” he added.
GIK/APA