By: Dr. Salihu Lukman
I share your sentiment, Dr. Usman Isyaku, on this inflation rate figure (33 %) and feel your frustration. Let me burst your bubble further before demystifying the numbers. The actual inflation rate since PBAT assumed office is
33.69 (current inflation rate as of May 2024) - 22.41 (inflation rate as of May 2023) = 11.28 %.
This means that since President Tinubu’s assumption of office in May last year, we have witnessed an AVERAGE inflation increment of a mere 11.28 % not 33.69 %. You are correct when you mentioned that most of the commodities we now buy in the market have actually increased by 200 – 400 %, a far cry from a paltry 11.28 %. Some typical values as shown in the figures in the comment section below include bread (78 %), beans (217 %), Tomato, 50 kg (275 %), rice (129 %), palm oil, 25 liter (-13.8 %). When you look carefully, palm oil has a negative inflation value because its price has decreased from 29k in 2023 to 25k in 2024 as per the data provided by Channels TV. This goes to show that while many commodities have high positive inflation rates that are different, there are still some commodities that have either low inflation rates or even negative inflation rates like palm oil. In determining the overall inflation rate, the individual inflation rates of commodities and services which can be positive, negative, high, or low are AVERAGED to produce a single inflation rate value.
The use of this single value to describe the inflation rate can be extremely annoying to the general populace who bear the brunt of the rise in prices of commodities. However, the government or economists are not wrong when they quote this single-value inflation rate. That is why whenever analysts, either TV anchors or economic analysts quote the single value inflation rate, they go a step further to provide some individual inflation rates so that the audience can make a better interpretation and have a clearer understanding of the single value inflation rate as in the case of these 2 videos whose links are provided below.
(1) Mr. Rewane, a renowned economic analyst breaks down the inflation rate.
(2) Seun, on Channels TV, provides some comparative data on the inflation rates of different commodities.
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