NBS: Food prices grew fastest in Kwara, Edo, Sokoto in October

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the rate at which the prices of foodstuff increased in October was highest in Kwara, Edo and Sokoto.

This was contained in the October 2020 consumer price index (CPI) report released by the bureau on Monday.

The report showed that food inflation Nigeria rose by 17.38 percent in October 2020 compared to 16.66 percent in September 2020.

“This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, meat, fish, fruits, vegetable, alcoholic and food beverages, and oils and fats,” the report read.

On a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.96 percent in October 2020 from 1.88 percent recorded in September 2020.

According to the report, food inflation was highest in Kwara (3.88 percent), Edo (3.81 percent) and Sokoto (3.65 percent) on a month-on-month basis; while Oyo (0.57 percent), Jigawa (0.54 percent) and Taraba (0.29 percent) recorded the slowest rise.

On a year-on-year basis, states with the highest food inflation were: Edo (21.65 percent), Zamfara (20.88 percent) and Kogi (20.58 percent); while Lagos (14.57 percent), Ogun (14.47 percent) and Ondo (14.23 percent) recorded the slowest rise.

The report indicated that the headline inflation recorded its highest increase in four years to hit 14.23 percent in October.