Despite Nigeria’s “agric revolution”, food prices soaring – Bureau of Statistics

In spite of Nigerian government’s claim of unprecedented revolution in agriculture, latest performance figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics show that food prices remained high since last December.

Highlights of the current consumer price index published by the bureau show that food sub-index rose by 9.2 percent in January 2015.

According to the report, the figure remained roughly unchanged from price increases recorded in December 2014.

The report also showed that price increases were also marginally higher from the 12-month low level recorded in November of 2014, at 9.1 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, the report said food prices rose by 0.9 per cent in January, increasing at the same pace for the second consecutive month.

Price increases slowed for all groups yielding the food sub-index except for vegetables.

On a month-on-month basis, the highest price increases were recorded in the vegetables, meat, “Potatoes, Yams and Other Tubers”; and “Bread and Cereal” groups. The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the 12-month period ending in January 2015 over the previous 12 month average was 9.5 percent.

The 12-month rate of change has held steady for eight consecutive months.

The core CPI for January showed a rise to 6.8 per cent on a year-on-year basis from 6.2 percent in December 2014.

The report showed that the strongest increases were recorded in the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels” divisions.

According to the report on a month-on-month basis, the Core sub-index slowed down marginally during the month, with prices increasing by 0.7 percent from 0.8 per cent in December.

The report said the highest increases were recorded in the Furniture and furnishings”, “Nondurable household goods”, Clothing materials, as well as “Shoes and other footwear” groups.

The average 12-month annual rate of rise of the index was at 6.9 percent for the period ending in January 2015, which was unchanged from the 12-month rate recorded in December 2014.

The pace of increases in the “All items less Farm Produce” or Core index, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce picked up in January.

The core consumer price index, CPI, measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living.