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Higher food prices drove inflation to 8.5% in March

By BusinessNews Staff on April 18, 2015

The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation, for the second successive month rose to 8.5 per cent in March compared to 8.4 per cent in the previous month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). It attributed the rise to slower increase in food prices.
Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce, increased at a faster pace for the third consecutive month, rising by 7.5 per cent (year-on-year), up by 0.5 percentage points compared to 7.0 per cent in February.
The strongest increases in the core index were observed in the clothing and footwear, and miscellaneous goods and services division.
The NBS, in its monthly CPI figures released on Thursday said year-on-year, both the urban and rural inflation showed faster increases in March.
While the Urban index increased by 8.6 per cent or 0.2 percentage points from February estimates, the Rural index increased marginally from 8.3 per cent in February to 8.4 per cent 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 per cent.
According to the statistical agency:” 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. The pace of increases was weighted upon by a slower increase in the Bread and cereals, oils and fats, dairy and confectionary groups. Faster increases were observed in all other groups which contribute to the Food sub-index.
“On a month-on-month basis, the highest price increases were recorded in the fruit, fish, potatoes, yam and other tubers, and vegetables groups. The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending in March 2015 over the previous twelve month average was 9.5 per cent. The twelve month rate of change has held steady for ten consecutive months.”
It said:”On a month-on-month basis, the Core Sub-index increased marginally by 0.8 per cent after increasing at the same pace for previous two months at 0.7 per cent. The largest increases were recorded in the passenger transport by air, miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling; appliances, articles and products for personal care, and repair of household appliances groups amongst others.

The average 12-month annual rate of rise of the index was recorded at 6.9 per cent for the 12-month period ending in March 2015, unchanged from the 12-month rate recorded in January.”
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s economy will more than double in the next 15 years, according to projections from the United States Department of Agriculture. Today, with an annual GDP of around $500 billion, Africa’s largest economy is 27th in the world. By 2030 it is expected to climb up to 19th place just ahead of the Netherlands.
Nigeria’s economy, which has been expanding by about seven per cent annually for the last decade, is largely dependent on oil. But other industries such as the booming film and telecommunications sectors, as well as manufacturing, have picked up in recent years. The country’s economy was rebased last year giving more weight to these newer sectors, meaning Nigeria overtook South Africa as the continent’s economic powerhouse.
Of course, that still leaves it trailing behind the world’s richest countries. The top economies in the world, the United States and China, will reach over $20 trillion in GDP by 2030. Nigeria will still come in behind Russia, Mexico, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.

[ThisDay]

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