Nigeria’s inflation rate decelerates further to 17.75% in June

Nigeria’s inflation rate decelerated further for the third consecutive time to 17.75% in June 2021 from 17.93% recorded in the previous month, the latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown. 

The latest consumer price index (CPI) report, the food inflation stood at 21.83% in June 2021 compared to 22.28% in May 2021 while core inflation which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce dropped from 13.15% recorded in May 2021 to 13.09% in the review period.

(The CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for a day-to-day living).

The consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation (rate of change in the increase in prices) increased by 17.75 per cent (year-on-year) in June 2021. This is 0.18 percentage points lower than the rate recorded in May 2021 (17.93) per cent. (This implies that prices continued to rise in June 2021 but at a slightly slower rise than they did in May 2021).

On a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 1.06 per cent in June 2021. This is 0.05 percentage points higher than the rate recorded in May 2021 (1.01 per cent).

The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending June 2021, over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 15.93 per cent.

The urban inflation rate increased by 18.35 per cent (year-on-year) in June 2021 from 18.51 per cent recorded in May 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased by 17.16 per cent in June 2021 from 17.36 per cent in May 2021, representing a 0.43 percentage point increase over 15.50 per cent recorded in May 2021.

On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.09 per cent in June 2021, up by 0.05 points compared to the rate recorded in May 2021 (1.04 per cent), while the rural index also rose by 1.02 per cent in June 2021, up by 0.04 percentage points over the rate that was recorded in May 2021 (0.98) per cent.

The corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index was 16.51 per cent in June 2021.

This is higher than 16.09 per cent reported in May 2021, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in June 2021 was 15.36 per cent compared to 14.94 per cent recorded in May 2021.