Nigeria’s May inflation rate rises to 11.40

A report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that prices of goods and services increased from 11.37 percent in April to 11.40 percent in May.

NBS in its report obtained by Ripples Nigeria on Monday, stated that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures inflation rate went up by 0.03 percent.

The CPI measures the average changes in the prices level of market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households.

In the report, NBS measures items comprising of 740 goods and services regularly priced.

The report shows that headline index increased by 1.11 percent in May 2019 with a 0.17 percent rate recorded in April 2019 (0.94)

A further breakdown reflects a 11.76 percent (year-on-year) increase in urban inflation rate for May 2019 from 11.70 percent recorded in April 2019 while the rural inflation rate increased by 11.07 percent in May 2019 from 11.08 percent in April 2019.

It further stated, “On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.15 percent in May 2019, up by 0.15 points from 1.00 percent recorded in April 2019, while the rural index also rose by 1.07 percent in May 2019, up by 0.17 from the rate recorded in April 2019 (0.90 percent).

“The corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index was 11.66 percent in May 2019. This is less than the 11.69 percent “reported in April 2019, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in May 2019 is 10.99 percent compared to 11.00 percent recorded in April 2019.”

On the food index, increase in prices of Meat, Oils and fats, Bread and cereals, Potatoes, yam and other tubers, Fish, Milk, cheese and egg, and Vegetables caused the composite food index to rise by 13.79 percent in May 2019 compared to 13.70 percent in April 2019.

“On month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.41 percent in May 2019, up by 0.27 percent points from 1.14 percent recorded in April 2019.

“The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending May 2019 over the previous twelve-month average was 13.37 percent, 0.03 percent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in April 2019 (13.34 percent),” the report stated.

Meanwhile, core inflation which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 9.0 percent in May 2019, down by 0.3 percent when compared with 9.3 percent recorded in April 2019.

On month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased by 0.75 percent in May 2019 bringing it up by 0.05 percent when compared with 0.70 percent recorded in April 2019.

The highest increases were recorded in prices of Domestic and household services, Tobacco, Actual and imputed rentals for housing, Medical, Dental and Hospital services, Cleaning, repair and hire of clothing, Repair and hire of footwear and Repair of household appliance.

The average 12-month annual rate of change of the index was 9.77 percent for the twelve-month period ending May 2019; this is 0.14 percent points lower than 9.91 percent recorded in April 2019.

Babatunde Alao…

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