The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the change in prices of goods and commodities, increased to 26.72 per cent in September compared to 25.80 per cent in the preceding month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.

The upsurge in inflation is mainly linked to the removal of petrol subsidies and the devaluation of the official exchange rate, both exerting substantial impacts on consumer prices.

It said, “September 2023, the headline inflation rate increased to 26.72 per cent relative to the August 2023 headline inflation rate which was 25.80 per cent.

“ Looking at the movement, the September 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.92 percentage points when compared to the August 2023 headline inflation rate.

“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 5.94 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in September 2022, which was 20.77 per cent.

” This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in September 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., September 2022).”

Year on year, food inflation rose to 30.64 per cent, or 7.30 per cent rise compared to 23.34 per cent in September 2022. Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produces and energy, stood at 21.84 per cent year on year, up by 4.35 per cent when compared to the 17.49 per cent recorded in September 2022.