The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday said inflation rate increased by 13.22 per cent (year-on-year) in August compared to the 12.82 per cent rate recorded in July.
This was contained in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) August 2020, published on its website.
The NBS explained that the increase recorded was 0.40 per cent points higher, according to the consumer price index which measured inflation.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele on Tuesday said: “Inflation will continue to tick upwards until sometime in December 2020 when the effects of harvest fully manifest”.
He spoke in Abuja at the 13th Annual Banking and Finance Conference of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).
According to Emefiele, “inflation was exacerbated by the increase in VAT (Value Added Tax) rate, exchange rate adjustment and seasonal food supply shocks due to the onset of the farming season and other structural bottlenecks.”
“However, with the increase in price of energy and electricity for the manufacturing companies, that will lead to import inflation because our economy is significantly import dependent” he said.
According to NBS, increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP), divisions that yielded the Headline index.
“On a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 1.34 per cent in August 2020. This is 0.09 per cent higher than the rate recorded in July 2020 (1.25 per cent).
“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months ending August 2020 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months was 12.23 per cent, representing a 0.18 per cent point rise from 12.05 per cent recorded in July 2020.”
The report stated that the urban inflation rate increased by 13.83 per cent (year-on-year) in August from 13.40 per cent recorded in July.
Meanwhile, the rural inflation rate increased to 12.65 per cent in August from 12.28 per cent in July.
Monthly, the urban index rose by 1.42 per cent in August, up by 0.15 from 1.27 per cent recorded the previous month.
The rural index also rose by 1.27 per cent in August, up by 0.04 from the rate recorded in July 2020 (1.23 per cent).
“The corresponding 12-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index was 12.85 per cent in August,’’ it said.
