Inflation affects all aspects of the economy. It affects consumer spending and purchasing power, business investment, employment rates, government programs, tax policies and even interest rates. So, it is crucial that the statisticians in a country track and publish the correct data that have been gathered in real-time. Understanding inflation is important because it affects the value of savings and investments. In a country where inflation is consistently rising, investors are discouraged from investing in the economy, thereby affecting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
In light of this, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced that the country’s headline inflation rate increased to 22.22 percent on a year-on-year basis in April 2023. According to the NBS Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for April 2023, this figure is 0.18 percent higher than the 22.04 percent that was recorded in March 2023. On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate in March 2023 was 5.40 percent higher than the rate recorded in April 2022 at 16.82 percent.
More details from the NBS report reveal increase in household goods.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed to the divisional level increase in the headline index at 11.51 percent. The rise in food inflation is caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yams and other tubers, and oil and fat, fish, vegetable, fruits, meat, and spirits. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel stood at 3.72 percent increase. Others are clothing and footwear at 1.70 percent; transport at 1.45 percent; furnishings, household equipment and maintenance at 1.12 percent, education at 0.88 percent, and health at 0.67 percent.
Price of miscellaneous goods and services increased by 0.37 percent; restaurant and hotels by 0.27 percent; alcoholic beverage, tobacco and kola at 0.24 percent; recreation and culture at 0.15 percent and communication at 0.15 percent. On a month-on-month basis, the report revealed that the percentage change in the All-Items Index in April 2023 was 1.91 percent. “This indicates a 0.05 percent increase compared to the 1.86 percent recorded in March 2023,” the report stated. This shows that in April 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.05 percent higher relative to March 2023.
Average CPI for 12 months ending in April 2023 compared.
The percentage change in the average CPI for the 12 months ending April 2023 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was recorded at 20.82 percent. This data indicates a 4.37 percent increase compared to the 16.45 percent that was recorded in April 2022. The report said that increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions, which yielded the headline index. Also, the rate of increase in the prices of food in April 2023 was 24.61 percent on a year-on-year basis, which was 6.24 percent higher when it is compared to the rate that was recorded in April 2022 at 18.37 percent.
Additionally, the report revealed that the “All items less farm produce’’ or core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce, stood at 20.14 percent in April 2023 on a year-on-year basis. This increase was by 5.96 percent when compared to the 14.18 percent that was recorded in April 2022. On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was 1.46 percent in April 2023. This was a 0.38 percent decrease compared to what the data showed in March 2023 at 1.84 percent.
Highest increases were recorded in fuel and related goods prices.
Meanwhile, the NBS also stated in the report that the highest increases were recorded in gas prices, passenger transport by air, liquid fuel, fuels, lubricants for personal transport equipment, and spare parts. Others include: maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment and solid fuel, medical services, and passenger transport by road, among others. Apart from these general reports, the NBS also included states’ profile analysis, which showed that in April 2023, all items inflation rates on a year-on-year basis was highest in Bayelsa at 26.14 percent, followed by Kogi at 25.57 per cent, and Rivers at 24.95 percent.
Related Link
Wikipedia: Website
