Fuel scarcity, others raised inflation rate to 15.7% in February says NBS

National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday revealed that hte Consumer Price Index rose to 15.7 per cent in February from 15.6 per cent in January, latest figures .

The NBS disclosed this in its ‘Consumer Price Index February 2022’ report on Tuesday.

According to the NBS, the highest increases were recorded in prices of gas, liquid fuel, wine, tobacco, spirit, narcotics, solid fuels among others.

It said, “In February 2022, the CPI which measures inflation increased to 15.70 per cent on year-on-year basis. This is 1.63 per cent points lower compared to the rate recorded in February 2021 (17.33) per cent. This means that the headline inflation rate slowed down in February when compared to the same month in the previous year.

“Increases were recorded in all classification of individual consumption by purpose divisions that yielded the headline index. On month-on-month basis, the headline index increased to 1.63 per cent in February 2022, this is 0.16 per cent rate higher than the rate recorded in January 2022 (1.47) per cent.”

According to the NBS report, the percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending February 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 16.73 per cent, showing 0.14 per cent point from 16.87 per cent recorded in January 2022.

The urban inflation rate increased to 16.25 per cent (year-on-year) in February 2022 from 17.92 per cent recorded in February 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased to 15.18 per cent in February 2022 from 16.77 per cent in February 2021.