Nigeria’s inflation increased by 11.98 percent in December 2019, higher than the 11.85 percent recorded in November.

This is due to the rise in the composite food index which rose by 14.67 percent in December.

The consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation witnessed a 0.05 percentage change for the twelve months period which ended in December 2019.

This is according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) CPI and Inflation Report for December 2019.

“The consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation increased by 11.98 percent (year-on-year) in December 2019. This is 0.13 percent points higher than the rate recorded in November 2019 (11.85) percent.

“The urban inflation rate increased by 12.62 percent (year-on-year) in December 2019 from 12.47 percent recorded in November 2019, while the rural inflation rate increased by 11.41 percent in December 2019 from 11.30 percent in November 2019.”

The report stated that the rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Meat, Fish, Oils and fats, Potatoes, yam, and other tubers.

“The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending December 2019 over the previous twelve-month average was 13.74 percent, 0.09 percent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in November 2019 (13.65) percent.”

Food inflation by states on a year on year basis had Sokoto (17.75%), Ogun (17.37%) and Plateau (16.75%) record highest, while Bayelsa (13.26%), Delta(12.72%) and Bauchi (12.19%) recorded the slowest rise.