Nigeria’s Inflation Surges at a Faster Pace, Hits 14.23% in October

Nigeria’s inflation rate rose at a faster pace in the month of October amid rising input cost and persistent forex scarcity.

Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the inflation rate, rose by 14.23 percent year-on-year in October, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

This is 0.52 percent higher than the 13.71 percent recorded for the month of September 2020.

In the NBS report, prices surged across all the COICOP divisions.

On a monthly basis, the inflation rate increased by 1.54 percent in October, representing about 0.06 percent higher than the 1.48 percent recorded in the month of September 2020.

The food sub-index showed prices of food items also rose across the board as composite food index expanded by 17.38 percent in October 2020, higher than the 16.66 percent posted in the month of September 2020.

NBS said “This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Potatoes, Yam and other tubers, Meat, Fish, Fruits, Vegetable, alcoholic and food beverages and Oils and Fats.”

On a monthly basis, the food sub-index grew by 1.96 percent in October, again up by 0.08 percent from 1.88 percent achieved in September 2020.

The more stable food index, the twelve-month period ending October 2020 was 15.42 percent, representing 0.29 percent increase from 15.13 percent filed in September.

High foreign exchange rates amid growing dollar scarcity continue to bolster prices across the board.