Nigeria’s inflation hits 22.2% as food prices rise

Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose to 22.22% in April from 22.04% in the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.

The statistics office said the inflation rate for April 2023 increased by 0.18 percent compared to the headline inflation rate for March 2023.

The NBS said on a year-on-year basis; the headline inflation rate was 5.40 percentage points higher than the rate recorded in April 2022, which was 16.82 percent.

“This shows that the year-on-year headline inflation rate increased in April 2023 compared to the same month last year (ie April 2022),” he said.

According to the report, the food inflation rate accelerated to 24.61% in April from 24.46% in March.

Inflation has remained high in Africa’s largest economy, prompting the apex bank to raise interest rates to their highest levels in nearly two decades.

In an aggressive push to contain the country’s inflationary pressure, the Central Bank of Nigeria in March raised its benchmark lending rate to 18 percent.

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In its inflation report on Monday, the NBS said the contributions of divisional-level items to the increase in the general index are Food and non-alcoholic beverages (11.51 percent), water for housing, electricity, gas and other fuels (3.72 percent). ), clothing and footwear (1.70%), transport (1.45%), furniture and household equipment and maintenance (1.12%), education (0.88%), health (0.67% ), miscellaneous goods and services (0.37 percent), restaurants and hotels (0.27 percent), alcoholic beverages, tobacco and cola (0.24 percent), recreation and culture (0.15 percent ) and communication (0.15 percent).

Month-on-month, the report said the all-items index in April 2023 was 1.91 percent, which was 0.05 percentage points higher than the rate recorded in March 2023 (1.86 percent).

“This means that in April 2023, on average, the overall price level was 0.05 percent higher than in March 2023.

“The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ended April 2023 from the average CPI for the previous twelve months was 20.82%, showing an increase of 4.37% compared to the 16.45% registered in April 2022”. the report said.

Food inflation

The food inflation rate in April 2023 was 24.61% year-on-year, which was 6.24% higher than the rate recorded in April 2022 (18.37%).

The bureau said the rise in food inflation was caused by rising prices of oil and fats, bread and cereals, fish, potatoes, yams and other tubers, fruits, meat, vegetables and liquor .

“In month-on-month terms, the food inflation rate in April 2023 was 2.13 percent, which was 0.06 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2023 (2 .07 percent).

“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending April 2023 compared to the average of the previous twelve months was 23.22%, which represents an increase of 4.35% from at the average annual exchange rate recorded in April 2022 (18.88%),” he said.

The report added that core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural commodity prices, stood at 20.14 percent in April 2023 on a year-on-year basis, up 5.96 percent from 14.18 percent recorded in April 2022.

He said the largest increases were in gas prices, air passenger transportation, liquid fuel, vehicle spare parts, fuels and lubricants for personal transportation equipment, medical services, road passenger transportation, etc.

“In month-on-month terms, the core inflation rate was 1.46 percent in April 2023. It stood at 1.84 percent in March 2023, down 0.38 percent from under.

“The twelve-month average annual inflation rate was 17.91% in the twelve months ending April 2023, which was 4.23 percent higher than the 13.68 percent recorded in April 2022,” he said.