Food prices push Nigeria’s inflation rate to 11.28%

The consumer price index, which measures inflation, stood at 11.28% in September from 11.28% recorded in August on a year-on-year basis, data from the National Bureau of Statistics have shown.

Going by the inflation report released by the bureau on Tuesday, this is the second consecutive month of inflation rise after 18 consecutive months of decline.

“On a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 0.84 percent in September 2018, down by 0.21 percent points from the rate recorded in August 2018 (1.05) percent,” the report read.

“The urban inflation rate increased by 11.70 percent (year-on-year) in September 2018 from 11.67 percent recorded in August 2018, while the rural inflation rate increased by 10.92 percent in September 2018 from 10.84 percent in August 2018.

“On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 0.86 percent in September 2018, down by 0.14 from 1.00 percent recorded in August, while the rural index also rose by 0.82 percent in September 2018, down by 0.14 percent from the rate recorded in August 2018 (0.96) percent.

“The composite food index rose by 13.31 percent in September 2018 compared to 13.16 percent in August 2018.”

However, the food sub-index was one percent in September compared to the 1.42% recorded in August 2018.

The food items that caused the increase in food inflation were caused by increases in the prices of potatoes, yam, vegetable, fruits, meat, milk, cheese, egg, bread, fish and cereals.

The farmer-herdsmen crisis and most recently, flooding in some parts of the country, have resulted in a drop in food production.

It was on the grounds of the farmer-herdsmen crisis that the World Bank cut its growth projection for Nigeria from 2.1% to 1.9%.