The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced plans to incorporate three new indexes into its monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI), marking a significant step in aligning economic data with current realities.
The announcement was made on Thursday during a sensitization workshop on GDP and CPI rebasing, organized by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the NBS in Lagos.
In October, the NBS revealed its intention to rebase the GDP and CPI to reflect structural changes and evolving realities in Nigeria’s economy.
The introduction of these new indexes is part of the broader plan to enhance the accuracy and relevance of the CPI, which tracks inflation and price changes in the economy.
The head of Price Statistics at the NBS, Dr. Ayo Andrew, in his presentation said, “Apart from our normal headline inflation, core inflation, food inflation; the basics, we are going to include in the new CPI rebased that will be released this January another index that has never been released before.
“Number one is the services index. At what rate are the prices of services in Nigeria increasing? People want to know about (those figures) in education and transport.
“NBS will bring that on board by the end of this month. Also energy index, at what rate is price fluctuating in this sector?
“Farm produce index, what is the rate of price volatility of these products, and at what rate are prices of items in this sector moving? So these are the special indices that we are going to release at the end of this month.”
The new base year for CPI is 2024.