The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed that the rate of inflation in February was 8.4 per cent, against January’s 8.2 per cent.

A  Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the NBS in Abuja showed that inflation rose to 8.4 per cent (year-on-year), 0.2 percentage points from 8.2 per cent recorded in January.

According to the report, food prices, as observed by the Food Sub-index, increased at a faster pace in February partly driven by increases in prices of imported food items.

“The imported food sub-index increased by 8.8 per cent (year-on-year), the highest increase recorded since February 2013. The food sub-index rose by 9.4 per cent (year-on-year), 0.2 percentage points from January. By groups, while most groups that contributed to the food sub-index increased at a faster pace during the month, the pace of increase in the food sub-index was weighed upon by a slower increase in the bread and cereals group,” the document revealed.

In the report, the pace of advances recorded by the “All Items less Farm Produce” or core sub-index increased for the second consecutive month in February. The core sub-index increased by 7.0 per cent year-on- year, 0.2 percentage points from 6.8 per cent recorded in January.

Prices increased at a faster pace in most major non-food divisions except for the recreational and culture division which increased at a slower pace.

After increasing at the same pace on a month-on-month basis for the previous two months, 0.8 per cent, the headline index increased at a marginally slower pace in February by 0.7 per cent. 

Year-on-year, the urban index increased at a faster pace for the second consecutive month, increasing by 8.4 per cent in February, 0.2 percentage points from January.

During the period, rural prices also increased by 0.2 percentage points from January to 8.3 per cent in February. On a month- on-month basis, both the urban and rural indices increased at a marginally slower pace in February 0.7 per cent.

The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve-month period ending in February over the average of the CPI for the previous 12-month period was 8.1 per cent, holding at the same rate for two consecutive months. 

The corresponding 12-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index was unchanged at 8.2 per cent in February, while the corresponding rural index increased marginally to 8.0 per cent.

On a month-on-month basis, food prices increased at a slower rate in February relative to January. Food prices increased by 0.7 per cent - down from 0.9 per cent. Price increases slowed across most groups that contribute to the food sub-index.

On a month-on-month basis, the highest price increases were recorded in the fish, meat, vegetables and “potatoes, yams and other tubers” groups, while the  average annual rate of change of the food sub-index for the 12-month period ending in February 2015 over the previous 12-month average was 9.5 per cent.