The International Monetary Fund has said the index weights and basket deployed by the National Bureau of Statistics for the monthly consumer price index are extremely outdated.
It noted that what NBS presents does not provide a true representative of expenditures patterns.
This was according to the latest IMF report titled ‘Nigeria: 2022 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Nigeria’.
In the report, the IMF stressed the need for the NBS to use new weights from the 2018 National Household Livings Standards rather than from the 2003/04 National Consumer Expenditure Survey.
It warned that outdated weights can lead to bias in the index presented by the NBS.
The IMF also noted that there is an ongoing effort for an updated producer price index but the funding for it is uncertain.
It added that the second African Regional Technical Assistance Centre in…
