BEVERLY HILLS, August 18, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 12.82% year-on-year in July, indicating an increase of 0.26% from the figure recorded in June.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation report for last month, published on Monday.
It is the highest so far reported in the country in the last 27 months, as the prices of food and medical supplies continue to surge amid the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
According to it, increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.
The latest data from the agency indicates that the headline index increased by 1.25% from the 1.21% recorded the previous month, on a month-on-month basis.
“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending July 2020 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 12.05 percent, representing a 0.15 percent point increase from 11.90 percent recorded in June 2020,” the report said.
The CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living; it measures the inflation rate
Similarly, food inflation rose to 15.48% compared to 15.18% recorded in June, as a result of increases in the prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, meat, fruits, oils and fats.
Meanwhile, the urban inflation rate increased to 13.40% year-on-year from 13.18% recorded in June 2020, while the rural inflation increased to 12.28% in July from 11.99% in the previous month.
On a month-on-month basis, the NBS disclosed that the urban index rose by 1.27% in July 2020, up by 0.04% from 1.23% recorded in June 2020, just as the rural index also increased by 1.23% in July 2020, up by 0.04% from the figure recorded in June.
“The corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index was 12.66% in July 2020.
“This is higher than 12.50% reported in June 2020, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in July 2020 is 11.49% compared to 11.36% recorded in June 2020,” the report added.
