NIGERIANS are left guessing whether to expect inflation report as the site remains inaccessible on the eve of the report release.
The outcome of the report is expected to shape decisions at a crunch monetary policy meeting late this month but the National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) website remains inaccessible.
Data showing price levels in December is due January 15, but as the country’s official data site remains inaccessible, many are wondering whether or not the NBS would break its own tradition of timely release of critical economic data.
The website which was compromised following a cyberattack on December 18 had the statistics agency warning the public through its official X account to disregard any information on the platform until the situation was resolved.
“My worry, and not just me, but data users all over, both locally and internationally, is that the website is taking too long to come up considering how important it is for a lot of things, including in decision making,” Ade Olayinka, a financial analyst, told this newspaper.
However, last week, Ayo Andrew, head of price statistics at the NBS said that the December inflation would be released this month.
Andrew made this known at a sensitisation workshop on gross domestic product (GDP) and consumer price index (CPI) rebasing organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the NBS.
“We would have the December CPI released this month and then the rebased CPI by the end of January,” Andrew said during the panel session.
The NBS proposed 2024 as the base year for inflation computation. The year was proposed to capture the structural changes driven by the removal of subsidies on FX and PMS.
The constituents of the inflation basket are also expected to expand from 740 to 960.
Economic analysts argued that the GDP rebasing would yield an exaggerated GDP growth number, and the CPI rebasing would downplay the inflation rate
“The CPI rebasing framework is disingenuous. A price reference base year put at 2024 and a weight reference period put at 2023, two peak periods of the country’s first ever shock therapy reforms will ensure that aggregate price pressures are not adequately accounted for,” Basil Abia, co-founder Veriv Africa, a data insight company said.
