The National Bureau of Statistics has published that the inflation rate reduced by 0.05 percent in April 2021 compared to what obtained in March 2021.

It said the inflation rate which stood at 18.17 percent in March reduced to 18.12 percent in April 2021.

CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services for day-to-day living.

The report contained in the NBS’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for April 2021 stated that increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.

“On month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 0.97 per cent in April. This is 0.59 percentage points higher than the rate recorded in March (1.56 per cent)”, the report said.

NBS said that the percentage change in the average composite of CPI for the 12 months period ending in April over the average of CPI for the previous 12 months period was 15.04 per cent.

This represented a 0.48 per cent increase over 14.55 per cent recorded in March.

However, the rural index also rose by 0.95 per cent in April, down by 0.57 per cent, compared to the 1.52 per cent rate recorded in March.

“The corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 15.63 per cent in April.

“This is higher than 15.15 per cent reported in March, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in April is 14.48 per cent compared to 13 per cent recorded in March,’’ it stated.

For state profile, the NBS said that in April, “all-items’’ inflation on year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi at 24.33 per cent, Bauchi State at 22.93 per cent and Sokoto State at 20.96 per cent.

Abia at 15.94 per cent, Kwara at 15.70 per cent and Katsina State at 15.58 per cent recorded the slowest rise in headline year-on-year inflation.

On month-on-month basis, however, in April “all-items’’ inflation was highest in Kebbi at 2.24 per cent, Cross River at 1.99 per cent and Jigawa at 1.78 per cent.

Ebonyi at 0.12 per cent recorded the slowest rise in headline inflation month-on- month with Rivers and Ogun recording price deflation or negative inflation.