The sum up of
Consumer Price Index (CPI) reports from the National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS), in 2016, indicates that the rate of inflation in Nigeria increased
significantly by 92 per cent from 9.62 per cent in January, to 18.5 per cent by
November this year.
From 9.62 per cent
in January, the CPI climbed to 11.38 per cent February, 12.77 per cent in March
and 13.77 per cent in April. Furthermore, it jumped to 15.58 per cent in May,
16.48 per cent in June, 17.13 per cent in July and 17.61 per cent in August.
The CPI edged higher
to 17.85 in September, 18.33 per cent in October and 18.48 per cent in
November. On the average, from January to November this year, inflation rose by
92 per cent, which implies that inflationary pressure was strong in 2016 as
prices of goods and service rose astronomically during the year.
Nigeria could be
said to have suffered double tragedy this year as foreign exchange rose by 143
per cent from N197 per US dollar to N490 per US dollar at the parallel market
today.
The exchange rate
especially between the naira and dollar is a business livewire for the country
given the level of Nigerian economy’s dependency on foreign goods and service
for its operation.
At the beginning of
the year, NBS projected that Nigeria would record double-digit inflation rate
of about 10.16 percent in 2016, up from 9.55 percent recorded in 2015 adding
that over the 2017 to 2019 period, headline inflation is expected to average
9.01 per cent.
According to the
Nigeria data house, the speculative pressure on the naira is likely to exist in
2016 in light of the current state of foreign reserves and inflation may rise
well above 10 per cent before the end of the year.
sunnews
Follow Solenzo Blog on
0 Comments