Inflation rises to 21.91% –NBS

From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja

Nigeria’s headline inflation rose to 21.91 per cent in February as against the January record of 21.82 per cent.

A statement downloaded from the  National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) website, yesterday, showed that looking at the trend, the February 2023 inflation rate showed an increase of 0.09 per cent points compared to January 2023 headline inflation rate.

Similarly, it noted, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.21 per cent  points higher compared to the rate recorded in February 2022, at 15.70 per cent.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in February 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., February 2022).

“The contributions of items on a class basis to the increase in the headline index are presented, thus: bread and cereal (21.67 per cent), actual and imputed rent (7.74 per cent),  potatoes, yam and other tubers (6.06 per cent), vegetable (5.44 per cent) and meat (4.78 per cent). On a month-on-month basis, the percentage change in the all-items index in February 2023 was 1.71 per cent, which was 0.16 per cent  points lower than the rate recorded in January 2023 (1.87 per cent). This means that in February 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.16 per cent  lower relative to January 2023,” the statement further explained.

As for the food inflation, NBS said that in February 2023, it  was 24.35 per cent on a year-on-year basis  which was 7.24 per cent  points higher compared to the rate recorded in February 2022 (17.11 per cent).

“The rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruits, meat, vegetable, and food product n.e.c.

“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in February 2023 was 1.90 per cent, which was 0.18 per cent  points lower compared to the rate recorded in January 2023 (2.08 per cent). The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve-months ending February 2023 over the previous twelve-months average was 22.12 per cent, which was a 2.44 per cent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in February 2022 (19.69 per cent),” the bureau said.