BY QUADRI SALIU
Nigeria’s inflation rate report as released by the National Bureau of Statistics for July has hit the roof, recording 19.64 per cent which is the highest in 17 years. The last time we had such inflation was before 2005.
Nigeria’s purchasing power of the Naira has been drastically affected, considering rising food prices, whose latest inflation rate was given as 22 per cent.
The NBS specifically said the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, surged to 19.64 percent in July 2022, up from 18.6 per cent in the previous month.
The new figure is also 2.27 per cent higher compared to the rate recorded in July 2021, which was 17.38 per cent.
The development means that the headline inflation rate increased in July 2022 compared to the same month in the previous year (July 2022).
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 in July 2022 was 1.817 %, which was 0.001% higher than the rate recorded in June 2022 (1.816 %),” the report reads.
“The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months period ending July 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 16.75%, showing a 0.46% increase compared to 16.30% recorded in July 2021.”
The report added that food inflation of 22.02 per cent in July was higher by 1.42 per cent compared to 20.6 per cent recorded in June.
This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products, potatoes, yam and other tubers, meat, fish, oil, and fat.
“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in July was 2.04%. This was a 0.01% insignificant decline compared to the rate recorded in June 2022 (2.05%),” the report adds.
“This decline is attributed to a reduction in the prices of some food items like tubers, maize, garri, and vegetables.”
The report said Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi and Kogi states witnessed the highest prices, while Jigawa, Kano and Borno recorded the slowest rise in inflation.
