The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that Nigeria’s inflation has dropped to 17.38 per cent on a year-on-year basis, representing a marginal 0.37 per cent fall from June’s 17.75 per cent.

Compared to the 21.83 per cent in June, the composite food index fell to 21.03 per cent in July. This means that the cost of food is still high despite the marginal drop.

Due to increases in prices of milk, cheese,  eggs, coffee, tea, cocoa, vegetables, bread, cereals, soft drinks and meat, there was a rise in the food sub- index.

Core inflation  stood at 13.72 per cent. This is the measure of food inflation which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce and energy.

The non-agricultural items that saw the highest prices were those of garments, shoes and other footwear, clothing materials, other articles of clothing and clothing accessories.

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Also, vehicle spare parts, major household appliances (whether electric or not), pharmaceutical products, cleaning, repair and hire of clothing, furniture and furnishing, medical services and hospital services also saw high prices over the period.

For states, all-items inflation was highest in Kogi (22.49 per cent), Bauchi (22.04 per cent) and Kaduna (20.42 per cent) states in July.

For July, the slowest rise in headline year-on- year inflation was seen in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states (15.78 per cent), including Delta State (15.40 per cent) and Kwara State (14.53 per cent).

In July 2021, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi (28.51 per cent), Enugu (24.57 per cent) and Lagos (24.04 per cent).

Last month, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was also highest in Kogi State at 30.34 per cent.

However, Akwa Ibom (17.85 per cent), Bauchi (17.74 per cent) and Abuja (16.67 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in year-on-year inflation, in July.

In analysing price movements for states, the consumer price index is weighted by consumption expenditure patterns that differ across states.

Also, because the weight assigned to a particular food or non-food item may differ from state to state, it is not wise to make interstate comparisons of the grouping of items, the NBS has explained.

The Nigerian economy is not getting better despite the marginal drop in inflation. Extreme poverty rate is 51 per cent in the country, according to the World Poverty Clock. Unemployment rate was 33.3 per cent as at the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the NBS.