Nigeria’s Inflation Rises To 20.77 %, NBS Says It Will Remain High Through 2022 Due To Flood

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has today disclosed in its monthly report that Nigeria’s inflation rate hit 20.77 % in the month of September 2022.

According to the report, titled ‘inflation rate rose to 20.77% in September 2022, on a year–on–year basis, the rate increased from 20.52 % in August 2022 to 20.77 % in September 2022, as compared to 16.63 %in September 2021.

NBS noted that the inflation rate will continue to remain high this year as a result of the flood in some states, which has destroyed crops and farmlands.

TrackNews gathered that the report said the jump in the consumer price index (CPI) was triggered by an increase in food inflation due to higher prices paid by Nigerians to purchase bread and cereals, potatoes, yam, oil, and fat.

It advanced that the food inflation rate in September 2022 was 23.34 % compared with the 19.57 % recorded in September 2021 and 23.12% in August 2022.

The September report stated that the percentage change in the average CPI for the 12-month period ending September 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12-month period was 17.43%, showing a 0.60% increase compared with the 16.83% recorded in September 2021.

According to the NBS urban inflation, on a year-on-year basis, remained at 21.25% last month, as compared to 17.19$ in the same period last year.

TrackNews understands that the Bureau observed that the urban inflation rate on a month-on-month basis was 1.46% in September 2022, which is lower than the 1.76% reported in August 2022. The corresponding 12-month average for the urban inflation rate was 17.94%, a rate higher than the 17.41% recorded in September 2021.

It continued that rural inflation rose to 20.32 % in September 2022 compared with 16.08% in September 2021.

The report however stated that on a month-on-month basis, it stood at 1.27%, lower than 1.75% a month earlier and for the 12-month average, the rate was 16.94% in contrast to 16.26% a year earlier.

The report revealed that all items inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi State, which stood at 23.82%, followed by Rivers State which recorded 23.49% and then Benue State at 22.78%, while Abuja stood at 17.87%, Borno at 18.12%, and Adamawa at 18.42% recorded the slowest rise in headline year-on-year inflation.

September 2022 recorded the highest increases in Jigawa at 2.58%, on a month-on-month basis, with Yobe recording 2.22%, and Benue at 2.05%. While Abuja recorded a negative rate of -0.72%, Sokoto at -0.19% and Adamawa at 0.25% recorded the slowest rise in the month-on-month inflation rate.

In September 2022, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kwara at 33.09%, Kogi at 28.46%, and Ebonyi, and Kaduna recording 27.41% and 18.84% respectively. Jigawa stood at 19.20%, while Sokoto recorded the slowest rise in year-on-year food inflation at 19.44 %.

Enugu recorded the highest for September 2022 food inflation with a recorded rate of 2.61%, while Ogun and Oyo had 2.50 % and 2.43 % respectively.

On a month-on-month basis, however, September 2022 food inflation was highest in Enugu at 2.61 per cent, Ogun at 2.50 per cent, and Oyo at 2.43 per cent, while Sokoto at -0.88 per cent, Ondo recorded 0.38% while Niger recorded the slowest rise on month-on-month inflation of 0.62%.