The National Bureau of Statistics on Monday released the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, with the index rising to 11.61 per cent in October.
The NBS in its report said the 11.61 per cent was 0.36 percentage points higher than the 11.24 per cent recorded in September.
An analysis of the report showed this to be the highest inflation rate recorded by the country in the last 17 months.
The last time Nigeria’s inflation was as high as 11.61 per cent was in May 2018.
The report read in part, “The consumer price index, which measures inflation, rose by 11.61 per cent year-on-year in October 2019.
“This is 0.36 percentage points higher than the rate recorded in September 2019 (11.24 per cent).”
On month-on-month basis, the report said the index increased by 1.07 per cent in October, adding that this was 0.03 percentage points higher than the 1.04 per cent recorded in September.
The NBS report said the urban inflation rate rose to 12.20 per cent year-on-year in October from 11.78 per cent recorded in September, while the rural inflation rate also rose to 11.07 per cent in October from 10.77 per cent in September.
The report said inflation rate was highest in Kebbi (15.20 per cent), Bauchi (13.97 per cent) and Ondo (13.74 per cent), while Kwara (9.69 per cent), Katsina (9.29 per cent) and Bayelsa (9.07 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in year-on-year inflation rate.
On month-on-month basis, however, it said inflation rate was highest in Benue (2.20 per cent), Bauchi (1.87 per cent) and Cross River (1.80 per cent).
Anambra recorded the slowest rise at 0.28 per cent, while Bayelsa and Ebonyi saw decline in the headline month-on-month index by 0.13 per cent and 0.35 per cent, respectively.
The rise in inflation rate, according to experts, may be connected to the ongoing border closure, which had made it difficult for products to be exported and imported into the country through the land borders
A professor of economics at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, Ogun, Sheriffdeen Tella, told our correspondent in a telephone interview that while border closure had spiked inflation, prices would adjust to their original state.
Tella said despite the rise in inflation rate, the government should not rush to reopen the borders until the strategic objectives behind the closure were achieved.
He said, “You will recall that the border was closed by the government and that action will affect the price of other commodities. If you look at the data that were released, the increase would likely be from food items followed by manufactured goods.
“We have yet to reach harvesting period; therefore, the price of other food items will also rise until when we start harvesting what has been produced,”
Also speaking, the Registrar, Chartered Institute of Finance and Control of Nigeria, said that while the closure of the border was good for the economy as it would stimulate demand, increase in price in the short term was one of the consequences of such action.