By Kola Alhassan
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said the country’s inflation rate fell to 15.60 per cent in January 2022 from15.63 per cent last December, despite the increase in food prices.
The NBS also said the prices of goods and services, measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) surged by 15.60 per cent (year-on-year) in January 2022.
“This is 0.87 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in January 2021 (16.47) per cent.
“This shows that headline inflation rate slowed down in January when compared to the same month in the previous year.
“On a month-on-month basis, the headline index, inclusive of items with volatile prices like food and fuel, increased to 1.47 per cent in January 2022, which is 0.34 per cent points lower than the 1.82 per cent recorded in December 2021.
“The composite food index rose by 17.13 per cent in January 2022 compared to 20.57 per cent in January 2021,” the bureau said.
The NBS said the rise in the food index was caused by rise in the prices of bread and cereals, food products, potatoes, yam, other tubers, soft drinks, oils, fats and fruit.
It said: “On a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.62 per cent in January 2022, down by 0.57 per cent points from 2.19 per cent recorded in December 2021.
“The average annual rate of change of the food sub-index for the 12 months ending January 2022 over the previous 12-month average was 20.09 per cent, 0.31 per cent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in December 2021 (20.40) per cent.
“The urban inflation rate increased to 16.17 per cent year-on-year in January 2022 from 17.03 per cent recorded in January 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased to 15.06 per cent in January 2022 from 15.92 per cent in January 2021.
“On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose to 1.53 per cent in January 2022, down by 0.34 per cent points from 1.87 per cent the rate recorded in December 2021.
“The rural index also rose to 1.42 per cent in January 2022, down by 0.35 per cent points from 1.77 per cent of the rate recorded in December 2021.”
Inflation dropped to 15.60% in January, says NBS
