THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigerians spent more on food items, hospital services and other goods and services in the year 2019 because of inflation.

In a report released on Thursday, the NBS explained that the consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation, increased by 11.98 percent (year-on-year) in December 2019.

“This is 0.13 percent points higher than the rate recorded in November 2019 (11.85) percent,” it said.

The report indicated that many Nigerians could not afford certain goods and services in the last month of the year 2019 which was also a festive period due to the increased inflation rate.

It said the increase was recorded in all 12 Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the Headline index.

The 12 COICOP are the food sector, clothing and footwear, housing/water/electricity/gas, Furnishing/Household equipment, health, transport, communication, recreation and culture, education, restaurants and hotels and miscellaneous goods and services.

From the NBS report, on a month on month basis, the headline index spiked up by 0.85 percent in December 2019, which is 0.17 percent rate higher than the rate recorded in November 2019 (1.02) percent.

This 0.85 percent spike shows that Nigerians paid more on electric tariffs, the health systems and there was an increase in school fees among other goods and services listed.

The urban areas inflation rate in Nigeria grew to 12.62 percent in 12 months as at December 2019 from 12.47 percent in November 2019.

According to this index, urban dwellers paid more for goods and services during the period under review. This was as rural dwellers also felt the impacts of inflation. Inflation rate for rural areas increased to 11.41 percent as at December 2019 from 11.30 percent in November 2019.

The NBS report indicated that urban dwellers felt the negative impacts of the inflation more than their rural counterpart did.