Thursday, March 28, 2024

Inflation climbs to 18.33% in October, as recession persist

The Nigerian economy recorded continued increase in annual inflation rate, as it jumps to 18.33 per cent in October, (from 17.85 per cent in September).
Similarly, the monthly increase in composite consumer price index accelerated for the first time in four months, to 0.83 per cent in October (from 0.8 per cent in September). Increase in general price level was mainly due to supply factors, such as higher foreign exchange rate and its impact on consumer goods and services.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, core inflation rate increased to 18.10 per cent in October (higher than 17.70 per cent in September); while food inflation rate rose to 17.09 per cent in October (faster than 16.62 per cent in September).
Price index of clothing and footwear rose further by 17.80 per cent in October (from 17.18 per cent in September); that of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel grew by 26.91 per cent (as against 26.31 per cent in September); while that of imported food increased by 21.21 per cent (from 20.78 per cent.)
However, foreign and domestic participation in equities trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange has continued on a downward trend as revealed by the NSE’s Domestic and FPI report for September.
Total transactions at the nation’s bourse decreased by 19.49 percent from N117.71 billion recorded in August to N94.77 billion (about $0.31 billion) in September.
Also, total transactions from January to September decreased significantly by 40.59 per cent, from N1.56 trillion recorded within the same period in 2015 to N927.08 billion in 2016.
According to the report, both foreign and domestic activities are decreasing, however, foreign activity is decreasing faster.
Although, domestic investors outperformed their foreign counterparts by about 8 per cent, domestic transactions decreased by 16.98 per cent, from N61.65 billion in August 2016 to N51.18 billion in September 2016 while FPI transactions decreased by 22.24 per cent from N56.06 billion in August 2016 to N43.59 billion in September 2016.
Monthly foreign inflows outpaced outflows as foreign inflows decreased by 29.65 per cent from N34.70 billion in August to N24.41 billion in September. Foreign outflows also decreased by 10.21 per cent from N21.36 billion to N19.18 billion within the same period.
Highlights of the institutional and retail composition of transactions on the Exchange between January and September showed that institutional investors significantly outperformed their retail counterparts in the period under review.
The institutional composition of the domestic market decreased by 19.11 per cent from N38.26 billion in August to N30.95 billion in September, while the retail composition decreased by 13.51 per cent from N23.39 billion in August to N20.23 billion in September.

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