Forecasts for the trimmed mean CPI, which is the average price rise across a basket of goods and services after more extreme movements have been lopped off, comes in at 0.6 per cent for the quarter and 2.1 per cent year-on-year.
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The annual rate of growth in core consumer prices also accelerated to 1.8 percent in June from 1.7 percent in the previous month. Gasoline prices were up 3.4 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis in June. Costs over the past 12 months increased 0.1 per cent, advancing for the first time this year.
Food prices, up 0.3% in June, were particularly hard to swallow for breakfast lovers.
“The weak economic performance in 2015 and widening output gap have pushed back our expectations for any future hiking cycle”, he said. Nationally, the inflation rate was one per cent. The mild price increases reflect a number of factors, including lower energy prices compared with past year and a strong dollar that makes imported goods relatively less expensive. Inflation is low at the moment but that is being largely driven by lower oil prices, the impacts of which should begin to disappear later this year.
The consumer price index increased 0.3 percent last month.
The price of food was up 3.4 per cent compared with a year ago as the price of meat increased 6.6 per cent. Prices were also up for dairy products, fresh fruit and baked goods. If Econ was your Waterloo, here’s a translation: a higher inflation rate reduces the probability of the United States falling into another recession. “The energy index rose for the second straight month as the indexes for gasoline, electricity and natural gas all increased”.
The CPI for food away from home climbed 0.2 percent in June and has risen 3.0 percent over the past year.
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For inflation to reach the central bank’s 2 per cent goal, price increases need to expand beyond rents, said Gapen. Costs for other household expenses were negligibly higher. This, according to the research firm, is given the fact that, CBN’s ban on importers 41 (mostly food and necessities) items from gaining access to the official foreign exchange markets and the continued fuel scarcity are expected to further push July inflation rate upwards.
