Inflation increases to 12.82% in July — NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says Nigeria’s inflation rate has increased by 12.82 per cent (year-on-year) in July 2020.

This is according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for July 2020 report released on the NBS website on Monday.

The CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living.

The current 12.82 per cent increase is 0.26 per cent points higher than the rate of 12.56 per cent recorded in June 2020.

The urban inflation rate increased by 13.40 per cent (year-on-year) in July 2020 from 13.18 per cent recorded in June 2020.

Meanwhile, the rural inflation rate increased by 12.28 per cent in July 2020 from 11.99 per cent in June 2020.

Also, the composite food index rose by 15.48 per cent in July 2020 compared to 15.18 per cent in June 2020.

The rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, meat, fruits, oils and fats, and fish.

Furthermore, the “All items Less Farm Produce” or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 10.10 per cent in July 2020.

The figure was down by 0.03 per cent when compared to 10.13 per cent recorded in June 2020.

The highest increases were recorded in prices of medical services, passenger transport by air, pharmaceutical products, hospital services, passenger transport by road, maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment, paramedical services and vehicle spare parts.

For the inflation rate in states in July 2020, all items on a year-on-year basis was highest in Bauchi with 16.10 per cent, Kogi with 15.90 per cent, and Sokoto and Plateau with 15.20 per cent each.

Meanwhile, Lagos, Adamawa and Kwara recorded the slowest rise in headline year-on-year inflation with 10.70 per cent, 10.60 per cent and 10.50 per cent respectively.

On month-on-month basis, however, all items inflation was highest in Kogi with 2.85 per cent, Zamfara with 2.44 per cent and Yobe with 2.35 per cent.

However, the following states recorded the slowest rise in headline month-on-month inflation, Ondo with 0.67 per cent, Adamawa with 0.63 per cent and Ogun and Imo with 0.62 per cent each.