Inflation Declines for 15th Consecutive Month to 12.48%

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has released the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, with the index dropping from 13.34 per cent in March to 12.48 per cent in April.

The bureau said this in the CPI report, which was made available to our correspondent in Abuja.

The NBS stated in the report that April was the 15th consecutive month that the inflation rate would be experiencing a decline.

The report read in part, “The Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, increased by 12.48 per cent (year-on-year) in April 2018. This is 0.86 per cent points less than the rate recorded in March 2018 (13.34 per cent) and represents the 15th consecutive disinflation since January 2017.

“On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 0.83 per cent in April 2018, up by 0.01 per cent points from the rate recorded in March.”

The NBS report stated that the urban inflation rate dropped to 12.89 per cent year-on-year in April from 13.75 per cent recorded in March, while the rural inflation rate also eased by 12.13 per cent in April from 12.99 per cent a month earlier.

On month-on-month basis, the report noted that the urban index rose by 0.85 per cent in April, down by 0.01 from the 0.86 per cent recorded in March, while the rural index also rose by 0.82 per cent in April, recording no change from the figure obtained in March.

The report stated that the highest increases were recorded in prices of fuel and lubricants for personal transport equipment, vehicle spare parts, garments and clothing materials, and other articles of clothing and clothing accessories, hairdressing salons and personal grooming establishments, paramedical services and pharmaceutical products.

SOURCE: PUNCH