Food, headline inflation rises in Dec. 2021 —NBS

. Price of rice to come down in Nigeria —RIFAN

Bread and cereals, meat, fish, other food items accounted for rise in food inflation in December, 2021 to 17.37 per cent, as headline inflation rose to 15.63 per cent.

 

Statistician-General of the Federation, Mr Simon Harry, gave the figure on Monday in Abuja at a news conference to announce the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December 2021.

 

Harry said there was a 0.16 per cent increase from the 17.21 per cent recorded for food inflation in November, 2021.

 

He said that headline inflation rose by 0.23 per cent in December from 15.40 per cent in November due to increase in prices of goods and services as a result of increase in demand in the festive season.

 

He added that the nation had maintained a consecutive decline in the year-on-year headline inflation for a period of eight months from April to November.

 

“The change in the declining trend for about eight months might have been caused by the increase in prices of goods and services as a result of increase in their demand during the month under review, being a festive season.”

 

He, however, said that on month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 1.82 per cent in December, being 0.74 per cent rate higher than the rate recorded in November, which stood at 1.08 per cent.

 

“The urban inflation rate increased to 16.17 per cent (year-on-year) in December from 16.33 per cent recorded in December 2020, down by 0.16 per cent, while the rural inflation rate increased to 15.11 per cent in December, 2021 from 15.20 per cent in December 2020, which was lower by 0.09 per cent points.

 

“The corresponding 12-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index was 17.52 per cent in December, 2021.

 

“This is lower than the rate reported in November of the same year which was 17.55 per cent, while the corresponding 12-month (month-on-month) average percentage change for rural index inflation rate in December, 2021 stood at 16.40 per cent from 16.42 per cent in November.”

 

The Statistician-General said that the ‘’All items less farm produce’’ or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 13.87 per cent in December, 2021, higher by 2.50 per cent when compared with 11.37 per cent recorded in December, 2020.

 

He added that on month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased to 1.12 per cent in December, lower by 0.13 per cent when compared with 1.26 per cent recorded in November.

 

“The highest increases were recorded in prices of gas, liquid fuel, wine, actual and imputed rentals for housing, narcotics, tobacco, spirit, cleaning, repair and hire of clothing.

 

“Others are garments, shoes and other foot wear and clothing materials, other articles of clothing and clothing accessories.”

 

Harry said that on State- by – State comparison, All Items was highest in Ebonyi at 18.71 per cent, while Kwara recorded the lowest at 12.32 per cent.

 

On the other hand, food Inflation was highest in Kogi at 22.82 per cent, while Edo was the lowest with 13.24 per cent.

 

He, however, said that he envisages a gradual decline in the figures from January, 2022 as prices of goods and services was expected to begin to reduce.

 

This, he said, would get the nation back to the trajectory of persistent decline that was recorded in 2021.

 

He said that the details were necessary in building the confidence of users of statistics on the numbers released and educating Nigerians on the significance of such numbers in determining the performance of every successive government.

 

He added that the Federal Government had over the years respected the operational independence of the NBS such that data was produced and released without any interference.

 

Harry said that this had enabled the bureau to produce statistics with integrity and in line with the reality on ground

The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) says plans have been concluded to launch the one million bags of rice paddy stacked as pyramids in Abuja on Tuesday.

Mr Shehu Muazu, Chairman Pyramid Sub Committee, RIFAN, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the rice pyramid would show that local production of food as possible.

According to Muazu immediately after the unveiling of the pyramid the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and RIFAN will allocate the rice to the processors.

“RIFAN in collaboration with the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria will process the rice and sell at a discounted price.

“This will lead to a drastic reduction in price once it starts rolling into the market.

“Our collaboration with the millers association rests on the agreement that they will sell at a discounted price to Nigerians.

“Although, we cannot talk of price in isolation as far as prices all over the world are concerned because all over the world prices of food have gone up.

“But the good news is that rice will remain the cheapest commodity as far as food is concerned due to the success recorded through the scheme,’’ Muazu said.

He also noted that the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) which was designed to assist small scale farmers stood as a testament to the efforts of the Federal Government in tackling food security.

“We have over one million bags of paddy rice which were collected from the beneficiaries of the ABP under the business strategy partnership.

“Benefiting farmers who received the loan, which came in the form of farm inputs and cash, repay with rice paddy of the same value.

“The significance of this rice pyramid is to showcase the achievement of government as far as agriculture is concerned and to call on Nigerian corporations to queue into investments in agriculture.

“If the poor Nigerian farmers can do this then the rich people can do more than this,’’ Muazu said.

On his part, Mr Njack Kane, RIFAN Africa partner, commended the Federal Government for protecting local producers of rice by banning rice importation and setting measures against smuggling.

“The Federal Government has taken a very critical decision which is to put protection mechanisms on the local producers of rice and the ban on importation of rice.

“And more recently it has put measures in place to fight to smuggle so that locally-produced rice can thrive.

“Nigeria is one of the successful game-changers in massive rice production. This laudable initiative will set a revolution in Africa agricultural sector,’’ Kane said.

NAN reports that the building of the paddy rice pyramid at the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) on Airport Road started in mid-December 2021 and has been a centre of attraction for many passers-by

The rice pyramids were built with one million bags of rice paddy planted and harvested from states across the country under the CBN Anchor Borrowers’ Programme. (NAN)

 

 

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