Nigeria’s inflation rate rose at a faster pace in April for the first time this year triggered by higher food prices, which accelerated the most in the last one year, latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reveal.
The CPI, which is a measure of the composite change in the prices of consumer goods and services purchased by households over a period, quickened by 11.37 percent on year-on-year basis in April 2019, representing 0.12 percentage points higher than 11.25 percent recorded in the previous month.
Similarly, food inflation rebounded to 13.70 percent from a year earlier in April compared with 13.45 percent recorded in March after three consecutive months of disinflation, even as core inflation, which captures all items but exempts the prices of volatile agricultural produce, moderated to 9.3 percent to reach its lowest level in over three years.
This implies the surge in headline inflation, which indicates faster increase in the prices of consumer goods and services in April compared with the previous month, was driven by higher food prices that rose the most since April 2018 in the review month.
On month-on-month basis, the country’s headline inflation sustained its upward trend by 0.94 percent in April from 0.79 percent recorded in the previous month. Food inflation spiked to 1.14 percent from 0.88 percent, while core inflation rose by 0.70 percent from 0.53 percent.
Likewise, urban inflation rose faster in April to 11.70 percent from the same period last year compared with 11.54 percent achieved in March, while rural inflation accelerated to 11.08 percent on year-on-year basis from 10.99 percent.
Also, on month-on-month basis, urban inflation continued to rise quickly to 1 percent in April as against 0.81 percent recorded in March, while rural inflation worsened in the review month to 0.90 percent from 0.77 percent in March.
OLUWASEGUN OLAKOYENIKAN
