Nigerians paid about 1.76 percent higher in prices of goods and services in February than what they paid in January this year, the National Bureau of Statistics has said.
The latest Consumer Price Index, CPI, which measures the average rate of inflation in the prices of goods and services over a period, showed that headline inflation grew from 9.6 percent in January to 11.4 per cent during the month.
The National Bureau of Statistics said in its latest report published on Tuesday in Abuja that the new rate for the month of February was higher by 9.6 per cent than the corresponding period in January 2015 (year-on-year basis).
On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased at a faster pace by 2.3 percent in February, about 1.4 percent points relative to the rates recorded in January.
The report said the speedy rise, which led to the overall increase in the headline index, were recorded across almost all major divisions, except the restaurants and hotels divisions, which, it noted, increased, at a slower pace.
Food prices sub-index increased at faster pace in February by 11.3 per cent, up by 0.71 per cent points from rates recorded in January after increasing at the same pace for two months, the NBS noted.
During the month, the NBS said all major food groups contributed to the food sub-index increasing at a faster pace during the month, except potatoes, yams and other tubers as well as sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery groups.
The “All Items less Farm Produce” or core sub-index, increased at a faster pace in February as imported items as well as other domestic shocks, which resulted in ripple effects across many divisions that contributed to the core inflation index.
The index increased by 11 per cent in February, about 2.2 per cent points from rates in January.
Average index consists of the Core Index and Farm Produce items.
In January, both the urban and rural indices recorded significant increases, with the former rising by 12.3 per cent (year-on-year basis) from 9.7 per cent recorded in December, while the latter increased by 10.7 per cent in February from 9.5 per cent in January.
On a month-on-month basis, both the urban and rural indices increased at a faster pace, with the former increasing by 3.0 per cent in February from 0.9 per cent in January, while the latter index rose by 1.8 per cent from 0.9 per cent in January.
The NBS said the percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending in February 2016 over the average CPI for the corresponding 12 months was 9.4 per cent, higher from 9.1 per cent recorded in January.
The corresponding 12 month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index, the report said, increased from 9.2 per cent in January to 9.5 per cent in February, while the corresponding rural index also increased from 9.0 per cent in January to 9.2 per cent in February.
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