The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said inflation rose to 16.47 percent (year-on-year) in January, and that the increase was 0.71 percent higher than 15.75 percent recorded in December 2020.
It said this in the “Consumer Price Index (CPI), January 2021” report released on Tuesday in Abuja.
The NBS said increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the Headline index.
According to the report, on month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 1.49 percent in January, which was 0.12 percent lower than the 1.61 percent recorded in December 2020.
“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending January over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 13.62 percent. This represents a 0.37 percent increase over 13.25 percent recorded in December 2020. The urban inflation rate increased by 17.03 percent (year-on-year) in January from 16.33 percent recorded in December 2020, while the rural inflation rate increased by 15.92 percent in January from 15.20 percent in December,” the report noted.
The NBS said on a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.52 per cent in January, down by 0.13 per cent when compared to the rate recorded in December.
It added that the rural index also rose by 1.46 percent in January, down by 0.12 percent compared to the rate that was recorded in December (1.58 percent).
According to NBS, the corresponding 12 month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 4.23 percent in January.
This, it said was higher than the 13.86 percent reported in December, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in January was 13.04 percent compared to 12.67 percent recorded in December.
The report said the composite food index rose by 20.57 percent in January compared to 19.56 percent in December.
This rise was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, meat, fruits, vegetable, fish and oils and fats.
On month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.83 percent in January, down by 0.22 percent from 2.05 percent recorded in December.
“The ‘All items less farm produce’ or core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 11.85 percent in January, up by 0.48 percent when compared with 11.37 percent recorded in December. On month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased by 1.26 per cent in January. This was up by 0.16 per cent when compared with 1.10 percent recorded in December,” said the report.
The NBS said the highest increases were recorded in prices of passenger transport by air, medical services, hospital services, passenger transport by road, pharmaceutical products and paramedical services.
Others are: repair of furniture, vehicle spare parts, motor cars, miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling, maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment.
For state profiles, the report said for the month under review, all items inflation on year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi at 21.38 percent, Oyo 20.17 percent and Bauchi 19.52 percent.
Meanwhile Kwara at 13.96 percent, Abuja 12.96 percent and Cross River at 12.22 recorded the slowest rise in headline Year-on-Year inflation.
On month-on-month basis, however, January’s all items inflation was highest in Oyo at 4.28 percent, Ebonyi 3.95 percent and Lagos 3.33 percent.
However, Abuja, Edo and Cross River recorded price deflation or negative inflation (general decrease in the general price level of food or a negative food inflation rate).
The report said food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi at 26.64 percent, Oyo 23.69 percent and Rivers 23.49 percent, while Ondo at 17.2 percent, Abuja 16.73 percent and Bauchi 16.37 percent recorded the slowest rise.
On month-on-month basis, however, January food inflation was highest in Oyo at 4.47 percent, Lagos 3.86 percent and Rivers 3.11 percent.
Meanwhile Akwa Ibom, which stood at 0.25 percent and Bayelsa at 0.13 percent, recorded the slowest rise with Edo recording price deflation or negative inflation.
CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living.
