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Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 31.70 percent in February 2024 from 29.90 percent recorded in January 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics said in its latest CPI and inflation report released on Friday.
The figure indicates an increase of 1.80 percent.
“Comparatively, on an annual basis, February 2024’s inflation rate was 9.79 percent higher than the 21.91 percent recorded in February 2023.
“Looking at the movement, the February 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 1.80 percent points when compared to the January 2024 headline inflation rate.
“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 9.79 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in February 2023, which was 21.91 percent.
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (on a year-on-year basis) increased in the month of February 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., February 2023).
“Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in February 2024 was 3.12 percent, which was 0.48 percent higher than the rate recorded in January 2024 (2.64 percent),” the NBS stated.
Persecondnews reports that the latest inflationary surge was recorded despite “tightened monetary policy by the Central Bank (CBN).”
At the last Monetary Policy Meeting, the apex bank increased the benchmark interest rate by 400 basis points to a record 22.75 percent.
Justifying the hike, the CBN Governor, Dr. Olayemi Cardoso, explained that members voted for a significantly high policy rate to drive down the inflation rate substantially.
He said the meeting extensively discussed various distortions in the foreign exchange market, particularly the impact of speculators exerting upward pressure on the exchange rate, leading to a significant pass-through effect on inflation.
The consensus reached involved a substantial policy rate hike aimed at effectively reducing inflation.
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