Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose yet again for the month of April to 22.22%, latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has shown
The rate of increase in April was 0.18% higher compared to the 22.04% recorded in March.
The CPI showed that on a year-on-year (y/y) basis, the headline inflation rate was 5.40% points higher compared to the rate recorded in April 2022, which was 16.82%.
The report said: “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).
“Likewise, on a month-on-month basis, the All-Items Index in April 2023 was 1.91%, which was 0.05% points higher than the rate recorded in March 2023 (1.86%).
“This means that in April 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.05% higher relative to March 2023.
“The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending April 2023 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months was 20.82% , showing a 4.37% increase compared to the 16.45% recorded in April 2022.”
Higher food inflation rate was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fruits, meat, vegetable, and spirits.
Other variables
The CPI also showed that food inflation increased to 24.61% in April from 24.46% in March amid declining purchasing power and high unemployment rate.
Food inflation y/y was 24.61% in the month under review or 6.24% points higher than the rate recorded in April 2022 (18.37%).
The higher rate was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fruits, meat, vegetable, and spirits.
“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in April 2023 was 2.13%; this was 0.06% points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2023 (2.07%).
“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending April 2023 over the previous twelve months average was 23.22%, which was a 4.35% point’s increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in April 2022 (18.88%),” it said.
The report added that the core inflation, excluding the prices of volatile agricultural produce, stood at 20.14% in April y/y, up by 5.96% compared to the 14.18% recorded in April 2022.
The highest increases were recorded in gas prices, passenger transport by air, liquid fuel, vehicle spare parts, fuels, and lubricants for personal transport equipment, medical services, passenger transport by road, etc, it said.
“On a month-on-month basis, the Core inflation rate was 1.46% in April 2023. It stood at 1.84% in March 2023, down by 0.38%.
“The average twelve months annual inflation rate was 17.91% for the twelve months ending April 2023; this was 4.23% points higher than the 13.68% recorded in April 2022,” it said.
The report further showed an increase in urban inflation y/y to 23.39%, representing 6.05% points higher than the 17.35% recorded in April 2022.
Also, on a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 2.05% in April 2023, representing 0.05% points higher compared to March 2023 (2%).
