A Statistician, Dr Olatunji Arowolo has attributed the increase in April Consumer Price Index (CPI) to Ramadan.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had on May 15, said CPI, which measures inflation increased by 11.37 per cent (year-on-year) in April, 2019.
Arowolo, a lecturer at Statistics Department, Lagos State Polytechnic told NAN in Abuja that fasting could be a factor that led to inflation.
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He said high demand and low productivity, especially foods from Muslim dominated states could lead to rise in the food index and in turn pushed inflation up.
The lecturer said in spite that fasting started in May, people could go into panic buying before then.
“Panic buying in the anticipation of the fasting can lead to inflation just like we do whenever we hear rumour of impeding fuel scarcity.
“Mind you, the impending increase in the wages might also be a factor,’’ he said.
According to NBS, the April CPI (11.37 per cent) is 0.12 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in March, 2019 (11.25) per cent.
The report said the composite food index rose by 13.70 per cent in April compared to 13.45 per cent in March, 2019.
It said the rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of meat, fish, oils and fats, bread and cereals, milk, cheese and egg, yam and other tubers, fruits and vegetables.
On month-on-month basis, the report said the food sub-index increased by 1.14 per cent in April, up by 0.26 per cent points from 0.88 per cent recorded in March. (NAN)