The National Bureau of Statistics announced Nigeria’s inflation rate rose year on year in November by 7.9%
This was 0.2% lower than the 8.9% recorded in October
The headline Inflation rate is published monthly and is compared on a year on year basis. For example, November 2013 and November 2014
In this instance, prices of goods and services rose by 7.9% between November 2013 and November 2014
Headline inflation however rose by 0.59% on a month to month basis (between October 2014 and November 2014)
Nigeria’s food index which is a subset of the Headline inflation rate rose 9.1% year on year down 0.2% from 9.3% recorded in October
This may not be a surprise as we are currently in the harvest season which helps bring down prices of food.
The NBS explained that ‘The onset of the harvest season has continued to bring consumers a respite from higher food prices after food prices peaked in August’
The core index (which is the headline inflation less food inflation) rose 6.3% year on year.
The inflation rate is yet to take into consideration the effect of the recent devaluation of the naira.
We expect inflation rate for December to rise sharply to above 9.5% by the time the effect of the devaluation is factored in.
This is despite several monetary policy measures the CBN introduced to tighten things.
