Gbenro Adesina
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that Nigeria’s inflation rate has increased by 12.82 per cent in July 2020, adding that its finding was based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for July 2020 report released today on the NBS website.
The CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living and the current 12.82 per cent increase is 0.26 per cent points higher than the rate of 12.56 per cent recorded in June 2020.
The urban inflation rate increased by 13.40 per cent in July 2020 from 13.18 per cent recorded in June 2020 and the rural inflation rate increased by 12.28 per cent in July 2020 from 11.99 per cent in June 2020.
The report noted that the composite food index rose by 15.48 per cent in July 2020 compared to 15.18 per cent in June 2020, explaining that the rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, meat, fruits, oils and fats, and fish.
“All items Less Farm Produce” or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 10.10 per cent in July 2020. The figure was down by 0.03 per cent when compared to 10.13 per cent recorded in June 2020”, NBS stated.
The highest increases were recorded in prices of medical services, passenger transport by air, pharmaceutical products, hospital services, passenger transport by road, maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment, paramedical services and vehicle spare parts.
