Nigeria’s headline inflation declines to 11.02 percent in August

Omobayo Azeez

The consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation decreased by 0.06 percent in August from 11.08 in July, 2019. The CPI, however, increased by 11.02 percent year-on-year (YoY) in August 2019.

This is according to the latest consumer price index (CPI) for August, 2019 released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday.

The disinflation continued in August 2019 amidst restrictions on the import of some food items, minimum wage and the recent border closures.

The NBS noted that with respect to the latter, the border was only closed 20 August 2019 with only 11 days of 31 days for any significant impact to be felt either way on prices.

“The inflation rate is also the average prices for the whole month and not only the price of goods and services in the last few days of the month. Furthermore, the harvest season and existing weak consumer demand and their natural effect to slow down food and other prices will also play a major role in determining the direction of inflation,” the report reads.

Against this backdrop, in August, all major indices slowed except urban inflation year on year.

On month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 0.99 percent in August 2019, which is 0.02 percent rate lower than 1.01 percent recorded in the previous month.

The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending August 2019 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 11.271 percent, showing 0.02 percent point from 11.29 percent recorded in July 2019.

The CPI Report further states that the urban inflation rate increased by 11.48 percent (year-on-year) in the month under review from 11.43 percent recorded in July 2019, while the rural inflation rate increased by 10.61 percent in August 2019 from 10.64 percent in July 2019.

“On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.04 percent in August, down by 0.03 from 1.07 percent recorded in July, while the rural index also rose by 0.93 percent in August, down by 0.03 from the rate recorded in July when it stood at 0.96 percent.

“The corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 11.62 percent in August 2019. This is less than 11.64 percent reported in July 2019, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in August 2019 is 10.95 percent compared to 10.97 percent recorded in July 2019,” NBS stated.

Regarding food prices in tge month, the report reveals that the composite food index rose by 13.17 percent in August compared to 13.39 percent in July.

“This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of Oils and fats, Meat, Bread and cereals, Potatoes, yam and other tubers and Fish

“On month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.22 percent last month, down by 0.04 percent points from 1.26 per cent recorded in July.

“The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending August 2019 over the previous twelve-month average was 13.458 percent, 0.002 percent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in July 2019 (13.460) percent,” says NBS.