*Food index hits 40%, severe in Bauchi, Kogi, Oyo, others
James Emejo in Abuja and Dike Onwuamaeze in Lagos
As the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and commodities further increased to 33.95 per cent in May, analysts yesterday urged the federal government to boost Foreign Exchange (FX) supply and address the rising cost of petroleum products as well as improve fiscal discipline.
They argued that with the current lending rate by banks at 35 per cent due to the high Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), consumers are at the receiving end given the high prices of goods and services.
The analysts were reacting to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which indicated that inflation increased further to 33.95 per cent in May, compared to 33.69 per cent the previous month.
In the report released yesterday, the NBS attributed the 0.26 per cent uptick in the headline index to rising energy, food, and…
Source: Thisday Newspaper
