The National Bureau of Statistics has released the headline year-on-year Consumer Price Index in Nigeria for the month of April at 12.34 per cent from March’s 12.26 per cent, indicating a 0.84 per cent difference.
This represents the highest inflation rate recorded in two years, which also showed the country’s inflation rate at its eight-month consecutive rise.
According to the bureau, there are increases in the prices of oil and fats, fish, potatoes, yam and other tubers, vegetables, fruits, bread and cereals, with food sub-index in the month under review rising year-on-year at 15.03 per cent from 14.98 per cent in the preceding month and at 1.18 per cent from 0.94 per cent, month-on-month.
While highest increases in the food sub-index in the month of April were recorded in the breads and cereals, fish, potatoes, yam and other tubers, vegetables, oil and fats, and fruits in that order, the highest increases recorded in the core sub-index in April were in bicycles, passenger transport by road and by sea, motorcycles, paramedic services, hospital services, pharmaceutical products, medical services, and major household appliances. It rose from 9.73 per cent in March to 9.98 per cent in April.
There were fears that the CPI for the month of April will be a runaway inflation figure, but the data released indicated that food prices, among others, were more resilient than anticipated.
