Nigeria’s inflation rate rises after 18 months – NBS

Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 11.23% in August after eighteen consecutive months of consecutive disinflation, largely due to increasing food prices, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

The NBS stated this in its latest consumer price index (CPI) and Inflation Report August 2018 released in Abuja on Friday.

”This is 0.09 per cent points higher than the 11.14 per cent recorded in July 2018,” and represents the first year-on-year rise in headline inflation.

The bureau added that Increases were recorded in all COICOP divisions that yielded the Headline index. COICOP refers to the classification of individual consumption by purpose.

“On month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 1.05 percent in August 2018, down by 0.08 percent points from the rate recorded in July 2018 (1.13) per cent),” the report said.

“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending August 2018 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 13.55 per cent, showing 0.4 per cent point from 13.95 per cent recorded in July 2018.”

The nation has recorded consecutive decline in inflation since it exited recession in the second quarter of 2017, and analysts feared the recent month-on-month figures showed that inflation may increase again.