Border closure pushes up food inflation to 13.51% y/y from 13.17% in August
More blows have continued to hit the Nigerian economy following the August 21st unilateral closure of land borders.
The latest minus for the economy is coming from the Consumer price index (CPI) or inflation rise in the month of September
Food inflation rose by 13.51% y/y in the review period, a faster increase relative to 13.17% y/y recorded in August. Notably, the highest increases were recorded in Bread and cereals, Oils and fats, Meat, Potatoes, yam, and other tubers, Fish and Vegetables. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation increased by 1.30%, relative to the 1.22% recorded in the previous month. Currently, due to border closure, a bag of rice now costs between N22,000 and N25,000 in Lagos and Abuja even as other food items have joined rice in jumping up in prices..
Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that inflationary pressure resurfaced in September, as the headline inflation widened by 22bps to 11.24% y/y from 11.02% y/y in August.
The reading is 24bps higher than Bloomberg’s median consensus estimate of 11.0%. On a month-on-month basis, the headline index rose at a faster pace of 1.04% (August: 0.99%).
Besides, core inflation widened by 8.94% y/y (vs 8.68 in August), the highest since May 2019. Pressures were most significant in prices of Cleaning, Repair and hire of clothing, Repair of household appliance, Hospital services, Major household appliances, Glassware, tableware, and household utensils, Spirits, Clothing materials, other articles of clothing accessories, Garment and Repair and hire of footwear. Similarly, on a month-on-month basis, the core index increased by 0.89%, relative to the 0.67% recorded in the previous month.
