Figures released on Monday in Abuja by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show
that Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 11.7 per cent in October, as against 11.3
per cent recorded in September, the month of October increased by 0.4 per cent.

The Statistician-General of the
Federation, Dr Yemi Kale,said in a statement that the monthly change in the composite
Consumer Price Index (CPI) was due to the rising cost of food items during the
period.

“The rise in the food Index was mainly
due to higher food prices in various classes lead by meat, fish, potatoes, yams
and other tubers, fruits, bread and cereals as well as other foods.

“While the impact of security concerns
on agricultural production has eased significantly, the higher food prices
continue to reflect the impact of recent floods on farm produce.

“This is resulting to difficulty of
moving food products to markets across the country, coupled with higher demand
for food items due to the just-concluded Muslim festival,’’ the statement said.

He said the relative moderation in the
headline index in September was offset by the rising cost of food items during
the period.

“While the “Core’’ index continues its
declining trend over the last few months, rising to 12.4 per cent in October
from 13.1 percent in September, the food index increased to 11.1 per cent from
10.2 per cent over the same period.

“Since its year-on-year peak of 15.2
per cent in June, 2012, the Core Index continued to exhibit a declining trend
partially as a result of uncompromising monetary policy on the part of the
Central Bank of Nigeria.

“It should be noted that the Headline
Index is made up of the Core Index and Farm Produce items.

“ As processed foods are included in
both the Core and Food sub-indices, this implies that these sub-indices are not
mutually-exclusive,’’ the statement said.

It said the average annual rate of
rise of the index for the twelve-month period ending in October 2012 was 11.2
per cent when compared to 10.5 per cent in 2011.

The statement said the urban inflation
rate was recorded at 15.3 per cent in October, compared to 14.22 per cent in
September.

It explained that the rural index
recorded a 9.1 per cent year-on-year increase, relatively unchanged from
September.

It stated that both the “Urban and
Rural All Items’’ index increased by approximately 0.9 per cent month-on month
each, when compared with the previous month.

“The percentage change in the average
composite CPI for the 12-month period ending in October 2012 over the average
of the CPI for the previous 12-month period remained unchanged at 11.9 per
cent.

“The corresponding 12-month
year-on-year average percentage change for Urban and Rural indices was 13.5 per
cent and 10.8 per cent respectively.

“In October, the composite Food Index
increased year-on-year to 11.1 per cent, 0.9 percentage points higher than 10.2
per cent recorded in September,’’ it said.

The statement stated that on a
month-on-month basis, the Food index increased by 1.0 per cent in September.

“In October, the “All items less Farm
Produce” index which excludes the points lower than the 13.1 per cent was
recorded in September.

“The relative moderation in the core
index (on a year-on-year basis) continues a trend exhibited for four
consecutive quarters,’’ it stated.

The statement said increases in the
Core index were as a result of increases in the educational expenses due to the
resumption of the academic year, higher transportation costs due to the recent
concluded Muslim festival, and health expenditures.

“On month-on-month basis, the core
index increased by 0.4 per cent in October, down marginally from 0.5 per cent
in September.

“The average 12-month annual rate of
rise of the index remained at 13.5 per cent (year-on-year) for the 12-month
period ending October 2012,’’ it said.

According to the bureau, pricing and
weighting are the two basic parameters used to arrive at the CPI.

It added that 10,534 officers were
deployed to collate the data for the CPI monthly, while 740 product
specifications were priced across the rural and urban areas of the 36 states of
the federation and the FCT.

The statement added that the average
price of each item was computed for each sector for each state and the FCT and
used for index computation..