Nigeria's inflation rises as internal revenue dips
People queue with jerrycans to buy fuel at Mobil filling station in Lagos, on May 21, 2015. Long queues formed at petrol stations across oil-rich Nigeria following a row over subsidy payment to petrol importers as well as sale of government oil blocks to private investors.
What you need to know:
- Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated a dip in internally generated revenue, suggesting bad times for most businesses.
- Nigeria, Africa's largest economy and most populous nation, is also the biggest oil producer but has suffered especially in the Covid-19 era as oil prices also fell.
Abuja,
Nigeria's month-on-month inflation rose to 13.7 per cent in September as officials admitted Africa's largest economy was facing troubles in the pandemic season.
Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated a dip in internally generated revenue, suggesting bad times for most businesses.
This is the highest rise since March 2018 when it was 13.34 per cent.
The data contained in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for September, that was released on Thursday, reflects an outcome from a period of struggle.
"This is 0.49 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in August - 13.22 per cent."
On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 1.48 per cent in September.
Oil prices
Nigeria, Africa's largest economy and most populous nation, is also the biggest oil producer but has suffered this year, especially with a fall in global prices due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In July, the government announced it would slash its $35 billion annual budget by 15 per cent, after global oil prices fell by nearly half.
Nigeria is also burdened by external debt. According to the NBS, 34.89 per cent of the country's $93.77 billion debt is owed to external lenders.
Yet, forced by the spread of the virus, Nigeria had shut down major activities to contain the rising number of cases.
The country has been returning to normalcy since July but it appears the effects of the pandemic could last longer.
The new figures show that the September inflation was 0.14 per cent higher than the 1.34 per cent rate recorded in August.
The urban inflation rate increased by 14.31 per cent (year-on-year) in September, from the 13.83 per cent in August, while the rural inflation rate increased by 13.14 per cent from 12.65 per cent in August.
This may mean that urban dwellers spent more on the same quantity of commodities purchased in the previous months.
Revenue
NBS said the nation recorded a -11.7 per cent growth rate year-on-year in internally generated revenue.
The 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) generated a revenue of $2.01 billion in the first half of the year compared to $2.26 billion in the same period in 2019.
Lagos State, it said, had the highest Internally Generated Revenue of $667 million and was closely followed by Rivers State with $209 million, while Jigawa State recorded the least internally generated revenue.
