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Inflation rate fell to 8% in September – NBS

By BusinessNews Staff on October 18, 2013

The rate of inflation in the country fell to eight per cent in September from 8.2 per cent in the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics has said.

In its Inflation/Consumer Price Index report made available to our correspondent on Wednesday, the bureau said the year-on-year inflation rate had continued to decrease as a result of slower rate of increase in food prices.

“In September, the CPI, which measures inflation, rose by eight per cent year-on-year, 0.2 percentage points lower from 8.2 per cent recorded in August. The year-on-year rate for the headline index continues to trend downwards from the nine per cent recorded in January 2013,” the NBS stated in the report.

The CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people in their day-to-day living.

According to the bureau, the rate of inflation slowed for a second consecutive month in September after a slight up-tick in July.

“This was largely as a result of a slower rate of increase in food prices as the recent harvest season continues to constrain rising food prices. Compared to August, prices trended lower in most food classes except for the dairy products (milk, eggs and cheese), and oil and fat classes,” the report added.

The NBS stated that the rate of increase in food prices moderated for the second consecutive month in September as produce from the ongoing harvest continued to put downward pressure on the food sub-index.

It said the rate recorded in September was 9.4 per cent, 0.3 percentage points lower than 9.7 per cent recorded in August.

“The average annual rate of rise of the food sub-index for the 12-month period ending in September 2013 was 10.1 per cent when compared with the same period in 2012. This was marginally lower than the 12-month average year-on-year change for the period ending in August, which was 10.2 per cent,” the report further stated.

The current inflation rate is, however, 0.17 per cent higher than the forecast of the Financial Derivatives Company Limited, a diversified firm of financial analysts.

It had forecasted that the September inflation rate would decrease to 7.83 per cent.

The Chief Executive, FDC, Mr. Bismark Rewane, had said in the firm’s in-house bulletin of October 9, 2013, “In the month of September, we are forecasting that the national headline inflation will be 7.83 per cent, the lowest point since March 2008.

“This continued moderation in the rate of inflation can be attributed to ‘seasonalities’ associated with the harvest of farm produce as well as price stability of the core index in the third quarter of the year. Furthermore, the tight monetary policy stance adopted by the Central Bank of Nigeria has also helped to contain inflationary pressures in 2013.”

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