Inflation rises to 12.13% in January – NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures inflation increased by 12.13 per cent year-on-year in January 2020.

The NBS made this known in its report on Inflation released on Tuesday.

It stated that this increase was 0.15 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in December 2019, which was 11.98 per cent.

The bureau explained that the increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purposes (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.

According to NBS, month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 0.87 per cent in January 2020 and this is 0.02 per cent rate higher than the rate recorded in December 2019, which was 0.85 per cent.

NBS says: “The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending January 2020, over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 11.46 per cent, showing 0.06 per cent point from 11.40 per cent recorded in December 2019.

“The urban inflation rate increased from 12.62 per cent in December to 12.78 per cent year on year in January 2020, while the rural inflation rate increased from 11.41 per cent in December 2019 to 11.54 per cent in January 2020.

“On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose from 0.90 per cent recorded in December 2019 to 0.92 per cent in January 2020, up by 0.02 , while the rural index also rose by 0.83 per cent in January 2020, up by 0.01 from the rate recorded in December 2019, which was 0.82 per cent.

“The corresponding 12-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 11.92 per cent in January 2020. This is higher than 11.83 per cent reported in December 2019.

“While the corresponding rural inflation rate in January 2020 is 11.04 per cent compared to 11.00 per cent recorded in December 2019,” it explained.

It further stated that the highest increase recorded was on oil and fats, fish, meat, potatoes, yam and other tubers as well as bread and cereals.