By Nse Anthony-Uko
(Sundiata Post) – Nigeria’s food inflation figures declined for the first time in several months, latest figures released on Tuesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown.
Data in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for December 2017 showed that the food inflation sub-index of the inflation measurement declined from 20.30 per cent to 19.42 per cent in December, a still uncomfortably high figure which analysts say shows that Nigerians are still under pressure from rising food prices.
Accordingly, inflation rate, measured by the further dropped to 15.37 per cent in December 2017 from 15.90 per cent recorded in November of the same year.
According to the bureau, this is 0.53 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in November.
The report stated that it became 11th consecutive disinflation (slowdown in the inflation rate though still positive) in headline year -on- year inflation since January 2017.
According to the report, increases have been recorded in all the Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yield the Headline Index.
On a month-on-month basis, the bureau stated that the Headline Index increased by 0.59 per cent in December 2017, 0.19 per cent points higher from the rate of 0.78 per cent recorded in November.
It stated that the percentage changed in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending in December 2017 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period.
The NBS stated that the percentage of average composite CPI was 16.50 per cent in the month, showing 0.26 per cent points lower from 16.76 per cent recorded in November 2017.
Bread and cereals, potatoes, yams, and other tubers, coffee, tea and cocoa, milk, cheese and eggs, oil and fats as well as fish are all food items that witnessed the highest increase in prices in December, a period, which coincides with the Christmas, and New Year celebrations, which may have had an impact on prices.
Despite the continuous rise in the food inflation in the country, headline inflation declined for the 11th month in a row in December, to 15.37 per cent from 15.90 per cent a month in November.
The declining inflation rate would be good news for the government in a pre-election year. Core inflation, also dropped from 12.20 percent to 12.10 percent giving room to the Central Bank of Nigeria to make a move on interest rates at its next meeting next week, if it holds.
In October, Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele said he expected inflation rates to fall at a faster pace and reach the high single-digits by the middle of 2018.
The bank has kept its main interest rate at 14 percent for over a year now as it battles inflation and seeks to attract foreign investors to support the naira currency.
The government wants to see rates come down to lower its borrowing costs and stimulate the economy.
Nigeria emerged from its first recession in 25 years in the second quarter of 2017 as oil revenues rose, although the slow pace of growth suggests the recovery remains fragile.