Nigeria’s inflation rate surges to 22.22 per cent in April, highest in 17 years — NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) latest inflation report shows an upsurge of the annual inflation rate of 22.22 per cent as at April 2023, the highest in 17 years.

It grew by 0.18 percent compared to March headline inflation rate which stood at 22.04 percent, maintaining a consistent rise four months consecutively.

The latest analysis by NBS indicated that despite the monetary policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to curb inflation in Africa biggest economy inflation rate rise to an all-time high in 17 year.

Persecondnews reports that the major contributor to the increase in the headline index rate are food and non-alcoholic beverages (11.51 percent), housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel (3.72 percent).

The NBS report said: “Clothing and footwear (1.70 percent); transport (1.45 percent); furnishings, household equipment and maintenance (1.12 percent); education (0.88 percent); health (0.67 percent); miscellaneous goods and services (0.37 percent); restaurant and hotels (0.27 percent); alcoholic beverage, tobacco, and kola (0.24 percent); recreation and culture (0.15 percent) and communication (0.15 percent).

“Looking at the movement, the April 2023 inflation rate showed an increase of 0.18% points when compared to March 2023 headline inflation rate.

“Similarly, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 5.40% points higher com- pared to the rate recorded in April 2022, which was 16.82%.

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

During the Period under review, NBS reported that Kogi, Kwara and Bayelsa states paid more for food.

“In April 2023, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi (29.50%), Kwara (29.48%), and Bayelsa (29.38%), while Sokoto (19.55%), Taraba (20.20%) and Jigawa (20.68%) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis.

“On a month- on-month basis, however, April 2023 food inflation was highest in Cross River (4.65%), Bayelsa (3.61%), and Ekiti (3.49%), while Jigawa (0.14%), Katsina (0.44%) and Osun (0.62%) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on a month-on-month basis,” the report also states.