Inflation rate dropped to 9.3% in October – NBS

Inflation rate dropped to 9.3 per cent in October from 9.4 per cent recorded in the previous month.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for the Month of October released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Sunday indicated that the drop was as “a result of lower increases in most divisions which contribute to the Headline index with the exceptions being Transport, and Recreation and Culture divisions.”
The report also revealed that food prices edged lower in October as the food sub-index increased by 10.1 per cent from 10.2 per cent recorded in September. The NBS explained that the drop in food prices was “as a result of a slower increase” in prices of bread, cereals, milk, egg, cheese, potatoes, yams and other tuber groups.
 It can be recalled that tuber products had increased at a slower pace for five consecutive months.
Easing for the second consecutive month, the Core sub-index increased by 8.7 per cent in October, being 0.2 per cent points lower from rates recorded in September.
“The Core sub-index was weighted upon by slower increases in multiple divisions: Alcoholic Beverage, Tobacco and Kola; Clothing and Footwear; Housing Water, Electricity; Gas and Other Fuels; and Furnishings and Household Equipment Maintenance divisions,” NBS stated.
Speaking at the weekend in Abuja, a lecturer at the Department of Economics, Kaduna State University, Dr. Aminu Usman, called on the federal government to synchronise fiscal policy of the economy with its monetary policy in order to check inflation in the country.
He advised the new Minister of Finance not to initiate fiscal policies that will contradict monetary policies initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“The    CBN Governor must work in tandem with the Finance Minister because while the CBN is trying to manage the economy to ensure that inflation does not go up and the financing of government is stable, the Finance Minister is responsible for fiscal measures that will also put the economy on the right path,” he explained.