Why Experts Disagreed With NBS May Inflation Report- Rewane

Nigeria’s inflation report for May 2021 raised lots of eye brows with some experts saying it was not reflecting the true state of prices in the country.

The National Bureau of Statistics in June released its Consumer Price Index report for May showing that year on year, inflation rate fell to 17.91 per cent from 18.12 per cent in April.

Food inflation plunged marginally to 22.28 per cent from the 22.72 per cent recorded in April.

“The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending May 2021 over the previous twelve-month average was 19.18 per cent, 0.60 per cent points from the average annual rate of change recorded in April 2021 (18.58) percent,”NBS said.

But in the market prices have not been so palatable.

For instance an ice fish sold at the Kado-Bimko Market in Gwarinpa Abuja for N500 has increased to between N900 and N1,000.

Prices have not been so fair for the average Nigerian who has to buy a coca-cola bottle of N100 as of May last year at N120 in May 2021, experts have said.

Bismarck Rewane, Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company explained on Channels TV ‘Sunrise Daily’ that there were doubts over the decline in the inflation number released by the NBS due to base year numbers which may “not be reliable.”

He said, “We have seen consumer price inflation according to the official data actually decline marginally, but we have a different view because by this time last year, the country was in lockdown, by the same time last year, there was no interstate movement.

“By this time last year, the airports were shut. Therefore if you compare the price of a basket of goods last year when the markets were shut and this year, the base year number may not be reliable.”

He continued that “in other words, how would you have gone to a market to ask people what the prices were when the market was not open? So we questioned and we raised eyebrows and doubts about what the data of last year was.”