Inflation hits 12.56% — highest since March 2018

The consumer price index which measures inflation rose to 12.56 percent in June, a new report by the National Bureau of Statistics has shown.

According to the report, which was released on Friday, the June inflation rate is 0.16 percentage points higher than the rate recorded in May 2020 (12.40 percent).

The CPI (consumer price index) measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living.

This is the highest point reached since March 2018 when inflation was at 13.34 percent.

“The urban inflation rate increased by 13.18 percent (year-on-year) in June 2020 from 13.03 percent recorded in May 2020, while the rural inflation rate increased by 11.99 percent in June 2020 from 11.83 percent in May 2020,” the report read.

Food inflation rose to 15.18 percent in June compared to 15.04 percent in May 2020.

The bureau said the rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, oils and fat, meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, potatoes, yam and other tubers.

Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural items, stood at 10.13 percent, up by 0.01percent when compared with 10.12 percent
recorded in May 2020.

On a year-on-year basis, food inflation was highest in Sokoto (17.88%), Plateau (17.04%) and Abuja (16.82%), while Lagos (13.46%), Ogun (13.18%) and Bauchi (12.86%) recorded the slowest rise.