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Inflation rises for four consecutive months, hits 8.5%

By on April 17, 2015

The National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday released the Consumer Price Index for the month of March 2014, stating that the index had shown that inflation rate had risen by 8.5 per cent.

The March increase in CPI, the bureau noted, was a marginal increase of 100 basis points from the 8.4 per cent recorded in the month of February.

The 8.5 per cent increase in inflation, according to the report, makes it the fourth consecutive month that the index would be moving in an upward direction.

It said while the pace of increase in food prices held firm for the second consecutive month, the faster increase in the Headline index was driven by increases in the non-food divisions.

The report, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent, said, “In March, the CPI, which measures inflation, rose by 8.5 per cent (year-on-year), marginally higher from the 8.4 percent rate recorded in February.

“This is the fourth consecutive month of a faster increase in the Headline index to reach the highest inflation rate recorded for the year.

“The Headline rate for March also equals last year’s high recorded in August.

“While the pace of increase in food prices held firm for the second consecutive month, the faster increase in the Headline index was driven by increases in the non-food divisions.”

The report added that food prices, as observed by the Food Sub-index, increased at relatively the same pace in March as in February; by 9.4 per cent.

This pace of increases, it explained was weighted upon by a slower increase in the Bread and Cereals, Oils and Fats, Dairy and Confectionary groups.

Year-on-year, the report said both the Urban and Rural Price indices recorded faster increases in March.

“The Urban index increased by 8.6 per cent, 0.2 percentage points from February, while the Rural index increased marginally from 8.3 percent in February to 8.4 percent in March.

“On a month-on-month basis, both the Urban and Rural indices increased at a faster pace in March, increasing by 0.9 percent,” the report added.

On a month-on-month basis, the highest price increases were recorded in the Fruit, Fish, Potatoes, Yam and other Tubers, and Vegetables groups

 

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