Nigeria’s Inflation Rate Accelerates to 20.77%
Rising for an eighth straight month in 2022, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate has accelerated to 20.77% in September, according to National Bureau of Statistics data.
In August, the consumer price index printed at 20.552% year on year due to the worsening food price index. The monetary policy tightening which began in May 2022 has had little impact on controlling red-hot inflation.
In a move to fight inflation, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s monetary policy committee hiked the benchmark interest rate for three consecutive meetings by 400 basis points to 15.5%.
Broadstreet analysts have been projecting the price level will worsen further amidst insecurity and low agricultural output. A distortion to the global supply chain is also fueling higher prices on commodities.
Some analysts told MarketForces Africa that monetary policy tightening will have low impacts on Nigeria’s inflation rate. Insecurity has worsened Agricultural output and Nigerian importers are unavoidably importing other countries’ inflation as an import-dependent nation.
On the export side, Nigeria is not doing well, analysts told MarketForces Africa in a chat on Monday. Across Nigerian markets, prices of foods has increased significantly – a situation worsened by persistent weakness in the local currency, the naira.
Statistics Bureau said in the latest report that in September 2022 the headline inflation rate was 20.77%, 4.14% points higher compared to the rate recorded in September 2021. READ:Nigeria’s Inflation Rate Accelerates to 20.52%
In the comparable period 12-month ago, the inflation rate printed at 16.63%. On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate was 1.36%, 0.41% lower than the rate recorded in August 2022 when it settled at 1.77%.
This means that in the month of September 2022, the headline inflation rate actually declined by 0.41% versus August record.
The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months period ending September 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 17.43%, showing a 0.60% increase compared to 16.83% recorded in September 2021.
URBAN INFLATION
On a year-on-year basis, in the month of September 2022, the urban inflation rate was 21.25 %, which was 4.06% higher compared to the 17.19% recorded in September 2021, according to the report.
NBS said on a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 1.46% in September 2022, this was a 0.34% decline compared to 1.79% in August 2022. The corresponding twelve-month average for the urban inflation rate was 17.94% in September 2022.
This was 0.53% higher compared to the 17.41% reported in September 2021.
RURAL INFLATION
According to NBS, the rural inflation rate in September 2022 was 20.32% on a year-on-year basis; this was 4.24% higher compared to 16.08% recorded in September 2021.
On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in September 2022 was 1.27%, down by 0.48% compared to August 2022 when it settled at 1.75%.
The corresponding twelve-month average for the rural inflation rate in September 2022 was 16.94%. This was 0.68% higher compared to the 16.26% recorded in September 2021.
The food inflation rate in September 2022 was 23.34% on a year-on-year basis; which was 3.77% higher compared to the rate recorded in September 2021 when it printed at 19.57%.
This rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Food products, Potatoes, yam, and other tuber, oil, and fat.
On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in September was 1.43%, this was a 0.54% fall compared to the rate recorded in August 2022 when it printed at 1.98%. This decline was attributed to a reduction in prices of some food items like Tubers, Palm oil, Maize, Beans, and Vegetables.
The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve-month period ending September 2022 over the previous twelve-month average was 19.36%, which was a decline of 1.35% points from the average annual rate of change recorded in September 2021 when it settled at 20.71%.
# Nigeria Inflation Rate Accelerates to 20.77%#
