Food Pushed August Inflation Rate To 25.80% — NBS

• Yusuf Oketola

Inflation jumped to 25.80 per cent in August from 24.08 per cent in July, according to figures obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday.

NBS in its Consumer Price Index for August 2023 said, “In August 2023, the headline  rate increased to 25.80 per cent relative to the July 2023 headline inflation rate which was 24.08 per cent.

“Looking at the movement, the August 2023 headline inflation rate shows an increase of 1.72 per cent points when compared to the July 2023 headline inflation rate.

“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 5.27 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2022, which was 20.52 per cent.”

The NBS stated that the food inflation rate in August 2023 was 29.34 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 6.22 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2022 (23.12 per cent).

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It stated that, “The rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables and potatoes, yam and other tubers, vegetable, milk, cheese and eggs.

“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in august 2023 was 3.87 per cent, this was 0.41 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in July 2023 (3.45 per cent).

The rise in food on a month-on-month basis was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, oil and fat, coffee, tea, and cocoa, it said.

According to the NBS, the average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending August 2023 over the previous 12-month average was 25.01 per cent, which was 5.99 per cent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in August 2022 (19.02 per cent).

Analysts at Cordros Research said on Friday that, “We expect the pressure on non-food inflation to remain intact as existing factors stoking prices have intensified. Notably, we highlight that currency pressures have worsened as the FX demand and supply dynamics remain the same at the official and unofficial FX markets. Consequently, we expect the non-food inflation to settle at 2.24 per cent m/m.

“Based on our expectations for the food and non-food prices, we anticipate that the headline inflation will rise by 2.47 per cent m/m in September, with the low base effects from the corresponding period of last year leading to a year-on-year print of 27.18 per cent.