From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
For the tenth consecutive times in the country’s inflation rate this year,
Statistician General (SG), of the Federation, Prince Semiu Adeyemi Adeniran, has again reported an increase in the headline inflation rate in October to 27.33 per cent relative to the September 2023 headline inflation rate which was 26.72 per cent.
Looking at the headline trend, the October 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.61 per cent points when compared to the September 2023 headline inflation rate.
According to him, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.24 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022, which was (21.09 per cent).
“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 per cent), housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuel (4.57 per cent); clothing & footwear (2.09 per cent); transport (1.78 per cent); furnishings & household equipment and maintenance (1.37 per cent); education (1.08 per cent) and health (0.82 per cent).
“Others are miscellaneous goods & services (0.45 per cent); restaurants & hotels (0.33 per cent); alcoholic beverages, tobacco & kola (0.30 per cent); recreation & culture (0.19 per cent) and communication (0.19 per cent)” he said
On a month-over-month basis, the SG, said, the headline inflation rate in October 2023 stood at 1.73 per cent, which shows that the rate of increase in the average price level was less than that of the preceding month by 0.37 per cent when compared to the rate recorded in September 2023 (2.10 per cent).
“The percentage change in the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the twelve months ending October 2023 over the average of the CPI for the previous corresponding twelve-month period was 23.44 per cent, showing a 5.57 per cent increase compared to 17.86 per cent recorded in October 2022” he said.
As regards food sub-index for October 2023, Adeniran remarked that it increased to 31.52 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 7.80 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022 (23.72 per cent).
He explained that the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was attributed to increases in prices of bread & cereals, oil & fat, potatoes, yam & 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 per cent. This was 0.54 per cent lower compared to the rate recorded in September 2023 (2.45 per cent). 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.
“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending October 2023 over the previous twelve-month average was 26.33 per cent, which was a 6.50 per cent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in October 2022 (19.83 per cent)” NBS, stated.