Nigeria’s headline inflation continues to rise

Urban inflation rates climbed by 17.92 percent in February 2021 from 17.03 percent recorded in January 2021.

HILLARY ESSIEN • March 16, 2021

Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) office used to illustrate the story

The consumer price index report, which monitors inflation in Nigeria, has recorded an increase of 17.33 percent on a year-on-year basis in February 2021.

This is 0.86 percent higher than recorded in January (16.47 percent).

The National Bureau of Statistics showed in its report that the headline index increased by 1.54 percent in February 2021, a 0.05 percent rate higher than it was in January 2021.

Urban inflation rates climbed by 17.92 percent in February 2021 from 17.03 percent recorded in January 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased by 16.77 percent in February 2021 from 15.92 percent in January.

For food, the rates hiked by 21.79 percent in February 2021 compared to 20.57 percent in January 2021, the rise in the food index was marked by an increase in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam (and other tubers), meat, food products, fruits, vegetable, fish, oils and fats.

The average annual rate of change of the food sub-index for the 12 months ending February 2021 over the previous 12-month average was 17.25 percent, 0.59 percent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in January 2021 (16.66 percent).

The report shows that core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce prices, stood at 12.38 percent in February 2021, up by 0.53 percent compared with 11.85 percent recorded in January 2021.

The highest increases were recorded in passenger transport prices by air and road, medical services, maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment, dental services, and personal grooming establishment such as salons.

The average 12-month annual rate of change of the index was 10.77 percent for the 12 months ending February 2021; this is 0.25 percent points higher than the 10.52 percent recorded in January 2021.

In February 2021, Kogi State recorded the highest year on year inflation for all items with 24.73 percent, Bauchi following closely with 22.92 percent, Ebonyi at 20.45 percent, and Enugu, Kwara, and Cross River recorded the slowest rise in headline year-on-year inflation with 14.3, 14.25 and 12.97 percent, respectively.

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