Amidst skyrocketing food prices in Nigeria, statistics has revealed that Nigeria’s inflation has continued to increase.
The National bureau of Statistics (NBS),has revealed that Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose to 25.80% in August from 24.08%.
Revealing the statistics on Friday, NBS said the August headline inflation rate shows an increase of 1.72% points when compared to the July headline inflation rate.
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The NBS said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 5.27% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2022, which was 20.52%.
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in August 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., August 2022),” it said.
According to the report, the food inflation rate in August quickened to 29.34% on a year-on-year basis, which was 6.22% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August (23.12%).
Food prices have been on the rise across Nigeria in recent years. The situation deteriorated due to the impact of government policies such as the removal of subsidies on petrol, among others.
Inflation has remained high in Africa’s largest economy, prompting the apex bank to hike interest rates to their highest levels in nearly two decades.
In July, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), raised its benchmark lending rate to 18.75%.
The bank said, “hiking the interest rate has made a lot of difference in moderating the rate of inflation”.
NBS Inflation Report
It noted that the option to continue the hike in the policy rate, albeit moderately, also presented a strong alternative premised on the expected liquidity injections into the economy from the recent efforts to unify the nation’s foreign exchange markets.
According to NBS, the items that contributed to the acceleration in the headline index are food & non-alcoholic beverages (13.36 %).
Housing water, electricity, gas & other fuel (4.32%), clothing & footwear (1.97%), and transport (1.68%) also contributed to the spike.
Others are furnishings & household equipment & maintenance (1.30%), education (1.02%), health (0.78%), miscellaneous goods & services (0.43%).
Restaurant & hotels (0.31%), alcoholic beverage, tobacco & kola (0.28%), recreation & culture (0.18%) and communication (0.18%).
On a month-on-month basis, the report said the headline inflation rate in August was 3.18%, which was 0.29% points higher than the rate recorded in July 2023 (2.89%).
“This means that in August 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.29% higher relative to July 2023.
The Food inflation rate in August was 29.34% on a year-on-year basis, which was 6.22% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2022 (23.12%).
The bureau said the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables and potatoes, yam and other tubers, vegetable, milk, cheese and eggs.
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“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in August 2023 was 3.87%, this was 0.41% points higher compared to the rate recorded in July 2023 (3.45%),” it said.
According to the bureau, the rise in food inflation on a month-on-month basis was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, oil and fat, coffee, tea, and cocoa.
