Nigeria’s monthly inflation sustained marginal rise in the month of August settling at 17.6 per cent as against previous month’s figure of 17.1 per cent.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which confirmed the figure yesterday in its monthly inflation update obtained by our correspondent, noted that the current rate was 0.5 per cent higher above July rate due to what it said was fuelled by increase in prices of transportation, electricity, housing among others.
The development, however, came on a day the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said the country’s power generation has increased from 3,810 megawatts recorded on September 8 to 4,285.90 megawatts. But the NBS in its report stated that: “Increase were recorded in all COICOP divisions which contribute to headline index reflecting higher prices across the board.
The major divisions responsible for accelerating the pace of the increase in the headline index were housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel, education and transportation system.” The agency noted that, food index rose by 16.4 per cent (year on year) in August up by 0.6% points from 15.8 per cent recorded in July.
Also during the month under review, all major food groups contributed to the increase in the food sub sector. “However, the pace of increase was slowed by fruits, potatoes, yam and other tubes as well as oils and fats which reported slower increases during the month,” NBS report added. Nigeria economy slipped in to recession following consistent negative economic growth in 2016.
The country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has declined to -2.06 per cent while inflation jumped to an all time high of 17.1 percent as of last month figure released by NBS. Similarly, the population those within the working age population willing, able and actively looking for work increased from 78.5 million in Q1 2016 to 79.9 million, representing an increase of 1.78 per cent in the labour force.
In its second quarter report on GDP issued last month, NBS said the nation’s GDP lower by 1.70 per cent points from the growth rate of –0.36 per cent recorded in the preceding quarter, and also lower by 4.41 per cent points from the growth rate of 2.35 per cent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2015.
According to the report, nominal GDP was N23,483,954.78 million (in at basic prices during the period which was 2.73 per cent higher than the Second Quarter 2015 value of N22,859,153.01 million. This growth, the report said, was lower than the rate recorded in the Second Quarter of 2015 by 2.44 per cent points.
The contraction in economic growth on two consecutive quarters was a reflection of negative growth in Africa’s populous nation. Nigerians have come under sever hardship with, with majority of her working and able population lacking jobs, prices of consumable and services doubling and key infrastructures on their lowest ebb. Meanwhile, TCN said 4,285.90 megawatts was the total output by power generation companies, and had been transferred to the 11 distribution companies across the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the power generation record was reported in the website of “Nigerian Electricity System Operator”. Electricity generation in the country had been stable in the last two months, rising from about 2, 983 megawatts to over 4, 000 megawatts.
Although power has improved, many parts of the country have remained with supply owing to problems with the distribution companies, including provision of pre-payment meters. Acting Chairman of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Anthony Akah, had recently disclosed that no fewer than four million electricity consumers in the country were awaiting supply of the meters.
