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Electricity, housing prices push inflation rate to 18.3% – NBS
The National Bureau of Statistics has said that the Consumer Price Index which measures inflation rate has increased from 17.9 per cent in September to 18.3 per cent in October.
The bureau in a report on Monday, attributed the increase in inflation rate to pressures recorded in some sub-index such as housing, electricity, gas, water, lubricants for personal transport and education.
It explained that while the prices of food items such as bread, cereals, fish and meat also recorded significant increases that of fruit items moderated during the period.
The report reads in part, “The CPI which measures inflation increased by 18.3 per cent (year-on-year) in October 2016, 0.48 percent points higher from the rate recorded in September.
“Increases were recorded across almost all major divisions which contribute to the headline index. Communication and restaurants and hotels recorded the slowest pace of growth in October, growing at 5.7 per cent and 9.4 per cent year-on-year respectively.
“The food index rose by 17.1 per cent (year-on-year) in October, up by 0.47 per cent points from 16.6 per cent recorded in September.
“During the month, the highest increases were seen in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels as well as fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment and education.
The report stated further that the least growth pace recorded in October were experienced in Communication (5.7 per cent), restaurants and hotels (9.4 per cent) and recreation and culture (10.3 per cent).
The NBS in the report noted that the urban index rose by 19.9 per cent (year-on-year) in October from 19.5 per cent recorded in September, while the rural index increased by 16.95 per cent in October from 16.4 per cent in September.
Inflation Transfers Money From Savers and Investors to Debtors
Moving beyond the basic effects of inflation, you come to realize there are two other major effects of inflation.
- The effect of inflation on savers and investors is that they lose purchasing power. Whether you’ve buried your money in a coffee can in the backyard or it is sitting in the safest bank in the world, it is becoming less valuable with the passage of time. This can create an incentive to spend money or, under the wrong conditions, a disincentive to invest money in things that would otherwise be good for civilization in the long-run.
- The effect of inflation on debtors is positive because debtors can pay their debts with money that is less valuable. If you owed $100,000 at 5% interest, but inflation suddenly spiked to 20% per year, you are effectively watching 15% of your debt get paid off each year, totally free to you. At some point, you’d be able to get a minimum wage job for $100 per hour and obliterate your debt.
Put more bluntly, the net effect of inflation is that it serves to transfer money from savers and investors to debtors. It punishes those who postpone their enjoyment and invested in building roads, schools, factories, and businesses and gives their reward to those who are in debt. It is a severe moral injustice, mostly caused by governments printing money — or, these days, making electronic entries — to cover expenses that cannot be paid out of the general treasury revenue.
