The increase in the price of fuel, scarcity of foreign exchange, and disruption in food supply chain pushed headline inflation to a new record high of 21.09 per cent in October, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
This is 0.32 per cent higher than 20.77 per cent reported in September. This means that the cost of living is rising rapidly in Africa’s most populous nation.
The NBS said, “Likely factors responsible for the increase in annual inflation rate (year-on-year basis): disruption in the supply of food products; increase in cost of importation due to the persistent currency depreciation; and a general increase in the cost of production e.g., increase in energy cost.”
While inflation has been on the increase year-on-year, the statistics body revealed that there had been a decline in headline inflation month-on-month in the last three months due to a decline in the changes in the food index. It stated this might be because the nation was currently in its harvesting season.
