Nigeria’s inflation on upward food prices rose the sixth consecutive time to 8.5 percent in August, some 0.2 percentage points increase from 8.3 percent recorded in July.
“This was the sixth consecutive month of a faster increase in the pace of the headline index relative to the previous month,” the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Sunday in its latest consumer price report.
All measures of inflation have witnessed progressive upward trend since March 2014, a situation the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said it monitors closely to reverse.
The CBN sees pressure points in the underlying pressure from food/core inflation as well as risks that could emanate from the likely increase in aggregate spending in the run up to the 2015 general elections.
NBS said in the latest report that the faster pace of price increases in the headline index in August was caused by increases in the twelve major classification of individual consumption by purpose (COICOP) divisions that yield the headline index.
Food index edged higher to 10 percent in August, from 9.9 percent recorded in July. Details later…
ONYINYE NWACHUKWU
