Inflation rate rises to 11.28% in September
Inflation rate rose for the second consecutive month in September to 11.28 per cent from 11.23 per cent recorded in August.
The consumer price index (CPI), which measures inflation, released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that September inflation rate was 0.05 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in August 2018.
Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) had recently predicted that inflation rate was expected to increase to 11.53 per cent in September, 2018.
The FDC predicted that a minimum wage review which the Nigeria Labour Congress was pushing for could trigger inflation.
Daily Trust’s analysis of the NBS report showed that increases were recorded in all divisions that yielded the Headline Index.
On month-on-month basis, the Headline Index increased by 0.84 per cent in September 2018, down by 0.21 per cent points from the rate recorded in August 2018, which was 1.05 per cent.
The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending September 2018 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 13.16 per cent, showing 0.39 per cent point from 13.55 per cent recorded in August 2018.
The composite food index rose by 13.31 per cent in September 2018 compared to 13.16 per cent in August 2018.
“This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of potatoes, yam and other tubers, vegetables, fruits, meat, milk, cheese and eggs, bread and cereals, and fish,” the NBS stated.
On month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.00 per cent in September 2018, down by 0.42 per cent points from 1.42 per cent recorded in August.
The prediction by the FDC indicated that this will be the second consecutive month of increasing inflation after an 18-month consistent decline.
“The rise in the inflation numbers would be primarily driven by higher food inflation as the recent floods in the middle belt region have undermined agric output,” the company stated.
“The rate of increase is not as significant as the impact of the trend on determining inflation expectations,” the FDC also stated in the recent prediction.
SOURCE: Dailytrust
