NBS clarifies: June 2023 inflation “may not fully capture” fuel subsidy and naira unification

The Bureau of Statistics has clarified the recent inflation figures explaining that numbers may not fully capture the impact of the fuel subsidy removal and the unification of the exchange rate.

The tweet appears to be in an apparent response to the concerns of analysts who thought the inflation numbers came lower than expected.

The National Bureau of Statistics announced on Monday that the inflation rate for June 2023 was 22.79% while the monthly inflation rate was 2.13%

The NBS took to social media to provide an explanation pertaining to why the rates may have been lower than expected.

• “The June Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers may not fully capture the impact of the fuel subsidy removal and the unification of the exchange rate.
• This is because the data collection for computing the rate for the reference month typically stops around the middle of the month, meaning that the June numbers only reflect approximately two weeks of the policy impact on consumer prices.
• The full effect of the policy, as relates to prices, can, therefore, not be reflected in June only, but also in subsequent months, based on actual prices collected in market outlets across the country.” NBS

The response suggests the inflation numbers do not capture the full month of June but the first two weeks of June and the last two weeks of May.

As such, the effect of fuel subsidy removal and the unification of the exchange rate was yet to fully impact the inflation rate.