The NBS announced last week that inflation dropped to 8.4 percent in June, from nine per cent the previous month.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja at a one-day sensitisation meeting between the Minister of National Planning Commission (NPC), Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman and states' commissioners of planning and economic development, the Statistician-General of the Federation, Mr. Yemi Kale, said although low inflation was often beneficial to individuals and the economy in general, it does not always correspond to reduction in commodity prices.
He spoke against the backdrop of concerns about the much-touted drop in inflation without tangible reduction in commodity prices in the market.
"Inflation is not a reduction in prices; inflation is a rise in prices. When you say it has gone down, it means the rise this time is not as much as the previous time.
“Inflation is the slowdown in the rise of price; it is not a reduction in price as most people think. Price rise is actually a good thing but you have to ensure that the extent of that price rise is reasonable and going at a sustainable pace," he explained.
Furthermore, the NBS boss said: "If your price is N100 and it goes to N200 last month and this month it goes to N250, this difference is N50 compared to N100 but it has still risen. All it is showing is that the rise is slower than previously.
"So what I will say is that going to the market and saying that prices are still going up and saying how can inflation be going down is just a lack of understanding of how inflation works."
Kale also faulted critics who said the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate had not impacted on the economy in terms of job creation and poverty reduction.
He said there had been lots of employment opportunities generated by the growth although not as much as would be expected.
Meanwhile, Usman said the meeting was necessary to jointly appraise developments in order to improve the overall economic management at both the federal and states' levels.
He said it would also allow for joint discussion as well as agree on strategies for deepening the participation of states' commissioners and permanent secretaries at the meetings of the Joint Planning Board (JPB) and the National Council on Development Planning (NCDP).
The minister added: "It is clear that the NCDP and JPB are veritable values for facilitating improvement in the economic management of the country. However, the question to ask is, have we lived up to expectation in bringing this to reality?"
Also speaking at the occasion, the Secretary to the Commission, Mr. Ntufam Ugbo, noted that the gathering was meant to forge a better collaboration between the state commissioners of planning, chairmen of states' planning commissions as well as the NPC in order to enhance better service delivery.
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