Nigeria’s inflation rate hits 5-year high at 18.60%

From Abubakar Y Ojima, Abuja

The consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, surged to 18.60 percent in June 2022, up from 17.71 percent in the previous month.

This is the highest since January 2017.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said this in its consumer price index (CPI) report for June 2022, released on Friday.

The figure is also 0.84 percent points higher compared to June 2021, which is 17.75 percent.

The development means that the headline inflation rate increased in June 2022 when compared to the same month in the previous year (June 2021).

According to the report, increases were recorded in all classifications of individual consumption according to purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.

“On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate increased to 1.82 percent in June 2022, this is 0.03 percent higher than the rate recorded in May 2022 (1.78 percent),” the report reads.

“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months ending June 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period is 16.54 percent, showing a 0.62 percent increase compared to 15.93 percent recorded in June 2021.”

The report added that food inflation rose to 20.60 percent in June 2022 on a year-on-year basis but the rate of changes in average price level declined by 1.23 percent when compared to 21.83 percent in June 2021.

The report further explained that the rate of changes in food prices compared to the same period last year was higher due to higher food prices volatility caused by COVID 19.

“This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products n.e.c, Potatoes, yam, and other tubers, meat, fish, oil and fat, and wine,” it added.