From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
For the past 11 months, the rising trend of Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures inflation has not abated as it has now hit 22.79 per cent in June compared to May’s 22.41 per cent.
In a statement, the Statistician General of the Federation of National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Prince Semiu Adeyemi Adeniran said that this represents an increase of 0.38 per cent points when compared to May 2023 headline inflation rate.
Similarly, he said, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 4.19 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in June 2022, which was 18.60 per cent.
The increase in the headline index for June 2023 is attributed to increases in some items in the basket of goods and services at the divisional level.
“Increases were witnessed in food and non-alcoholic beverages (11.81 per cent), housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuel (3.81 per cent); clothing & footwear (1.74 per cent), transport (1.48 per cent), furnishings & household equipment & maintenance (1.15 per cent); education (0.90 per cent) and health (0.68 per cent). Others are miscellaneous goods & services (0.38 per cent), restaurants & hotels (0.28 per cent), alcoholic beverages, tobacco & kola (0.25 per cent) while recreation & culture increased by 0.16 per cent and communication also increased by 0.15 per cent each.
“On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in June 2023 stood at 2.13 per cent. This shows an average increase of 0.19 percentage points on the general price level relative to May 2023. The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending June 2023 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months was 21.54 per cent, showing a 5.00 per cent increase compared to the 16.54 per cent recorded in June 2022.
“The food component sub-index for June 2023 increased by 25.25 per cent on a year-on-year basis; this was 4.65 per cent points higher relative to the rate recorded in June 2022 (20.60 per cent). The rise in food index on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fruits, meat, vegetable, milk, cheese, and eggs” he said.
According to the Statistician General, the food inflation rate on a month-on-month basis, in June 2023 rose to 2.40 per cent. This was 0.21 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in May 2023 (2.19 per cent).
He said that the average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending June 2023 over the previous twelve-month average was 24.03 per cent, which indicates an increase of 5.41 per cent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in June 2022 (18.62 per cent).
“Core inflation, which is all items less farm produce, that is excluding the prices of volatile agricultural produce, rose to 20.27 per cent in June 2023 on a year-on-year basis; this was up by 4.53 per cent when compared to the 15.75 per cent recorded in June 2022. The increases were recorded in prices of passenger transport by air, gas, vehicle spare parts, liquid fuel, fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment; medical services, passenger transport by road etc.
“On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate stood at 1.74 per cent in June 2023. This shows a decline of 0.07 per cent when compared to the 1.81 per cent recorded in May 2023. The average twelve-month annual inflation rate ending June 2023 stood at 18.71 per cent; this was 4.65 per cent points higher than the 14.06 per cent recorded in June 2022.
“The inflation rate in June 2023 for urban consumers was 24.33 per cent on a year-on-year basis. This indicated an increase of 5.23 per cent points higher compared to the 19.09 per cent recorded in June 2022. Similarly, the urban month-on-month inflation rate rose to 2.31 per cent in June 2023, which was 0.21 per cent points higher compared to May 2023 (2.09 per cent). The corresponding twelve-month average for the urban inflation rate was 22.38 per cent in June 2023. This was 5.30 per cent points higher compared to the 17.09 per cent reported in June 2022” the Statistician General, said