Analysis: Nigeria's inflation rate now 11.98%

Nigeria's inflation rate now stands at 11.98%, rising from 11.44% as at the end of 2018 to December 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics in its latest report.

Month on month, the rate is significantly higher. The inflation rate is 0.13% points higher than the rate recorded in November 2019 (11.85%).

Increase in food prices like cereals, fish, meat, yam, and other tubers dragged food inflation a notch higher from 14.67% in December 2019 compared to 14.48% recorded in November 2019.

Core inflation which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce also rose to 9.33% in December 2019, up by 0.34% when compared with 8.99% recorded in November 2019.

The increasing cost of the services industry was responsible for the spike in core inflation.

Some of the services covered by core inflation include Hairdressing salons and personal grooming establishment, Garments, Repair and hire of footwear, Vehicle spare parts, Passenger transport by air, according to the NBS.