The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday reported that Nigeria’s consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation, increased by 15.75 percent (year-on-year) in December 2020, representing 0.86 percent points higher than the (14.89) percent rate recorded in the preceding month.
The rate, which is the highest to be recorded in the past 35 months, surpassed analysts projections.
The Bureau attributed the surge in the general price level in the last month of the year within the economy to increases in all COICOP divisions that yielded the Headline index.
According to the official statistics and producing agency, on month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 1.61 percent in the month under review, indicating 0.01 percent rate higher than the 1.60 percent rate recorded in November 2020.
It further reported that the percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12-month period which ended December 2020 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 13.25 percent, representing a 0.33 percent point increase over 12.92 percent recorded in November 2020.
A further disaggregation of the CPI on urban and rural prices indicated that the urban inflation rate increased by 16.33 percent (year-on-year) in December 2020 from 15.47 percent recorded in preceding month.
Similarly, the Bureau reported that the rural inflation rate maintained a surging trend, increasing by 15.20 percent in December 2020 from 14.33 percent in November 2020.
The report further reflected that on a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.65 percent in December 2020, same as the rate recorded in the preceding month, while the rural index also rose by 1.58 percent in December 2020, up by 0.02 percent above the 1.56 percent rate recorded in November 2020.
The NBS clarified that the corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index rose to 13.86 percent in December 2020, higher than the 13.55 percent reported in November 2020.
This is even as it reported that the corresponding rural inflation rate in December 2020 was 12.67 percent compared to 12.35 percent recorded in November 2020.
