Food Prices Rose In April Despite Fall In Inflation
The prices paid by consumers for rice, egg, tomatoes and yam rose in April despite 0.91 month-on-month (MoM) fall in food inflation sub-index during the period.
Similarly, transport fare for bus, air, motorcycle and waterway journeys increased amidst a four percent drop in petrol price during the period.
In its latest data on selected food prices, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said: “Selected food price watch data for April 2021 reflected that the average price of one dozen of agric eggs medium size increased year-on-year (YoY) by 11 percent and MoM by 1.13 percent to N530.40 in April 2021from N524.47 in March 2021 while the average price of piece of agric eggs medium size (price of one) increased YoY by 18 percent and MoM by 1.5 percent to N49.14 in April 2021 from N48.43 in March 2021.
“The average price of 1kg of tomato increased YoY by 0.09 percent and MoM by 3.7 percent to N277 in April 2021 from N267 in March 2021.
“The average price of 1kg of rice (imported high quality sold loose) increased YoY by 14.6 percent and decreased MoM by 0.67 percent to N540 in April 2021 from N544 in March 2021.
“Similarly, the average price of 1kg of yam tuber increased YoY by 9.9 percent and MoM by 3.3 percent to N252.80 in April 2021 from N244.82 in March 2021.”
But in its inflation report for April, NBS said that the food sub index declined by 0.91 percent MoM to 0.99 percent in April from 1.9 percent in March.
Meanwhile, NBS also said the fare paid by commuters for bus journeys within the city increased by 2.34 percent month-on-month, MoM, to N386 in April 2021 from N377 in March 2021.
In its “Transport Fare Watch Report” for April, NBS further stated that fare paid by passengers for bus journey bus journey intercity increased by 1.5 percent MoM to N2,446 in April from N2,411 in March.
Fare paid by commuters for journeys by motorcycle per drop increased by 1.8 percent MoM to N276 in April from N271 in March.
Similarly, fare paid by passengers for waterway passenger transport increased by 1.5 percent MoM to N820 in April from N808 in March.
The increases in transport fares, however, run contrary to decrease in average price for premium motor spirit (PMS) also known as Petrol in April.
Recall that NBS reported that average price paid by consumers for petrol in April decreased MoM by 3.65% to N166.38 in April 2021 from N172.68 in March 2021.
However, NBS reported that fare paid by air passengers for specified routes single journey decreased slightly by 0.24 percent MoM to N36,409 in April from N36,495 in March.
