The director general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries, (LCCI) Muda Yusuf has said the best way out of the current high inflation rate being experienced in the country, is for the Federal Government begin to address the challenges constraining the supply side of the economy to deal with the issue.
He said the March headline inflation of 18.17% is the highest in four years and more worrisome is that food inflation has accelerated to 23 %.
The major issues he maintained are cost and output related, stating that it is not in all cases that high production and operating costs can be passed on to the consumers.
According to him, the implication is that producers are also taking a hit and this is more severe where a product or service is faced with high demand elasticity.
Tackling inflation he stated requires urgent government intervention to address the challenges bedevilling the supply side of the economy.
The LCCI boss also explained that there is also a need to worry about the growing fiscal deficit, especially the Central Bank of Nigeria financing of the deficit. It is characterized as inflation tax by a school of thought in economic literature,” he added.
The consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation increased by 18.17 percent (year-on-year) in March 2021. This is 0.82 percent points higher than the rate recorded in February 2021 (17.33 percent).
The corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 15.15 percent in March 2021. This is higher than 14.66 percent reported in February 2021, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in March 2021 is 13.99 percent compared to 13.48 percent recorded in February 2021.
According to a release by the National Bureau for Statistics on Thursday, increases were recorded in all COICOP divisions that yielded the Headline index.
On month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 1.56 percent in March 2021. This is 0.02
percentage points higher than the rate recorded in February 2021 (1.54 percent).
On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.60 percent in March 2021, up by 0.02 compared to
the rate recorded in February 2021, while the rural index also rose by 1.52 percent in March 2021, up by
0.02 compared to the rate that was recorded in February 2021 (1.50 percent).
The consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation increased by 18.17 percent (year-on-year) in
March 2021. This is 0.82 percent points higher than the rate recorded in February 2021 (17.33 percent).
The corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 15.15
percent in March 2021. This is higher than 14.66 percent reported in February 2021, while the
corresponding rural inflation rate in March 2021 is 13.99 percent compared to 13.48 percent recorded in
February 2021.
Increases were recorded in all COICOP divisions that yielded the Headline index.
The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending March 2021, over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 14.55 percent, representing a 0.50 percent point increase over 14.05 percent recorded in February 2021.
The urban inflation rate increased by 18.76 percent (year-on-year) in March 2021 from 17.92 percent recorded in February 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased by 17.60 percent in March 2021 from 16.77 percent in February 2021
