The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that Nigeria maintained an inflation decline for about seven months, due to the introduction of policies by the government which impacted positively on most of the commodities.
This was disclosed by Mr Simon Harry, Statistician-General of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), at a news briefing in Abuja on Friday.
He praised the Federal Government’s policies, which he said, reflected in the improved consumer price index.
What Simon Harry said
“We have consistently maintained a decline for about seven months and the reason for that is some of the policies put in place by the government are impacting positively on most of the commodities that make up the basket for the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
“Government is very conscious of the effects of the COVID-19 that have impacted negatively on the economy and as result, the economic sustainability plan that was formulated by the government has been taken as a very serious document to implement so it will cushion the effect.
“That has had an impact on several sectors of the economy, thereby having a multiplier effect on the parameters that are used to compose the CPI,” Mr Harry stated.
He added that he was optimistic that this trend would be maintained to a reasonable period of time, as long as the Government’s determination was sustained in the implementation of current policies that had been put in place.
“Our sole responsibility is in terms of producing the data that concerns some of these developments. It is not our responsibility to formulate policies that will control some of these negative happenings.
“We go beyond our responsibility to identify some factors responsible for some of these problems and then present them to the policymakers and advise them to come out with policies to help strengthen the system so we have a better system,” he added.
What you should know
Nigeria’s headline inflation in the month of September 2021, dropped further to 16.63% compared to 17.01% recorded in the previous month. This is according to the recently released CPI report for the month of September, by the National Bureau of Statistics.
This represents a 0.38% point decrease compared to the 17.01% recorded in August 2021. Food inflation, which is a closely watched index, also dropped to 19.57% in September from 20.3% recorded in the prior month, while core inflation rose to 13.74%, up by 0.33% when compared with 13.41% recorded in August 2021.
