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The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that the country’s inflation rate stood at 12.6 per cent in January. A statement issued in Abuja by the NBS said that the figure was 2.2 per cent higher than the 10.3 per cent recorded in December. It stated that the monthly change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 3.35 per cent in January, compared to the 1.06 per cent achieved in December.
“The increase in the consumer inflation in January was due to the partial removal of the subsidy on the petrol that pushed up prices of many food and non-food items as a result of the increase in transportation costs,’’ the statement said. It said that the year-on-year increase in urban and rural areas was 16.4 per cent and 9.4 per cent, respectively. The statement said the urban all items monthly index was 5.3 per cent in January against 2.0 per cent in December, while the rural index was 1.8 per cent in January compared with 0.3 per cent in December.
“The inflationary impact of the partial subsidy removal was therefore largely concentrated in the urban areas relative to the rural areas where most Nigerians live. The biggest contributors to the consumer inflation were the high prices of some food items, liquid fuel and transport fares, and other miscellaneous goods and services which need liquid fuel and or transport fares for providing their services,’’ it said.
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