How border closure pushes inflation to 1.61% in October

Fresh data from the National Bureau of Statistics has shown a rise in Nigeria’s inflation for the month of October by 0.36 basis points year on year to 11.61 per cent and also increased month on month to 1.07 per cent from 1.04 per cent.

The composite food index rose by 14.09 per cent in October compared to 13.51 per cent recorded in September due to increases in prices of meat, fish, vegetables, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers.

Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce eased to 8.88 per cent year on year in October compared with the 8.94 per cent recorded in September.

The urban inflation rate stood at 12.20 per cent year-on-year in October from September’s 11.78 per cent, while rural inflation increased to 11.07 per cent in October from 10.77 per cent in September.

On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose to 1.15 per cent in October from 1.13 per cent, while the rural index was slightly higher at 0.99 per cent from 0.96 per cent.

According to experts, the rise in inflation rate may be connected to the ongoing border closure which had made it difficult for products to be exported and imported into the country through the land borders.