Food prices hit 13-month low as inflation drops marginally

Data made available by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday show that food inflation recorded the lowest month-on-month movement since September 2016.

According to the Core Price Index for October 2017 released by the bureau, the country’s inflation rate stands at 15.91% in October 2017, marginally down from the 15.98% recorded in September 2017.

But the consumer price index (CPI) which measures inflation increased by 15.91 percent (year-on-year) in October 2017.

According to the report, “this was 0.07 percent points lower than the rate recorded in September (15.98) percent making it the ninth consecutive disinflation (slowdown in the inflation rate though still positive) in headline year on year inflation since January 2017.

“The food index increased by 20.31 percent (year-on-year) in October, down marginally by 0.01 percent points from the rate recorded in September (20.32 percent).

“On a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 0.85 percent in October, down from 0.87 percent recorded in August. This represents the fifth consecutive disinflation in month on month inflation since a 2017 high of 2.57 percent in May 2017. October 2017 also represents the lowest recorded month on month inflation since September 2016.

“While average month on month food inflation for the first five months of the year (January to May 2017) stood at 2.01 percent, average month on month food inflation for the next five months of the year (June to October 2017), stood at 1.27 percent indicating a general slowdown in the rise in food prices from June to date compared to from January to May 2017, though the rate of price increases has remained generally higher on a year on year basis.”

Headline inflation was highest in Bauchi state (23.87 percent) while the lowest was recorded in Kogi state (9.83 percent).

Food inflation was highest in Kwara state at 26.27 percent and lowest in Kogi state at 11.61 percent.

The federal government set the inflation benchmark for 2018 at 12.4% in the proposal submitted to the national assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 7.