Nigeria’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) decreased by 11.26 percent year-on-year in October 2018, representing 0.02 percent points lower than the 11.28 percent rate recorded in the preceding month.
The CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living, that is, it measures the inflation rate
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the official statistics producing and reporting agency, in its CPI report for October published today indicated that increases were recorded in all the Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the Headline index during the month under review.
The agency reported that on month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 0.74 percent in October, down by 0.09 percent points from the 0.83 percent rate recorded in the previous month (September).
The Bureau stated further that the percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12-month period ended October 2018 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 12.78 percent, down from 13.16 percent recorded in September.
It stated that the urban inflation rate increased by 11.64 percent year-on-year (YoY) in October from 11.70 percent recorded in the previous month, while the rural inflation rate increased by 10.93 percent in the month under review from 10.92 percent in September 2018.
The agency reported that on a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 0.76 percent in October 2018, from 0.86 percent recorded in September, while the rural index also rose by 0.72 percent in October 2018, down from the rate recorded in September 2018 (0.82) percent.
On the Food Index trend, the NBS stated that the composite food index rose by 13.28 percent in October compared to 13.31 percent in September 2018, attributing the rise to increases in prices of Fruits, Meat, Vegetables, Potatoes, yam and other tubers, Bread and cereals, and Oils and Fats.
Similarly, it disclosed that on month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 0.82 percent in October, up from 1.00 percent recorded in September.
This is even as the agency stated that the average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the 12-month period ended October 2018 over the previous 12-month average was 15.36 percent, from the average annual rate of change recorded in September (15.92) percent.
The Bureau reported that the ‘All Items Less Farm Produce’ or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 9.9 percent in October, up by 0.1 percent from the 9.8 percent rate recorded in September.
It stated further that on month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased by 0.80 percent in October compared to the 0.64 percent recorded in the preceding month, noting that the highest increases are recorded in prices of fuel and lubricants, vehicle spare parts, domestic and household services, carpets and other floor coverings, Dental services, Hospital services, repair of household appliances and Medical services.
The agency stated that the average 12-month annual rate of change of the index was 10.90 percent for the 12-month period ended October 2018 from 11.09 percent recorded in September.
