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Nigeria’s inflation rate rises to 15.63% after eight-month decline

After eight months of consecutive decline, Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 15.63 per cent in December 2021 as against 15.40 per cent in the previous month.

The Statistician General of the Federation/CEO, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Dr. Simon Harry, announced the latest figure at a press conference in Abuja on Monday.

During the month under review, the NBS boss said the composite food sub-index rose to 17.37 per cent in December, lower by 2.19 per cent points compared to 19.56 per cent in December 2020.

Harry said: “This rise in food sub-index was caused by increase in prices of bread and cereals, food products such as  meat, fish, potatoes, yam and other tubers, soft drinks and fruits.”

On a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased to 2.19 per cent in December 2021, higher by 1.12 per cent points from 1.07 per cent recorded in November 2021.

Similarly, core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce, stood at 13.87 per cent in December 2021, which was higher by 2.50 per cent when compared with 11.37 per cent recorded in December 2020.

In April 2021, inflation figure was 18.12 per cent, 17.93 per cent in May, 17.75 per cent in June, 17.38 per cent in July, 17.01 per cent in August, 16.63 per cent in September, 15.99 per cent in October and 15.40 per cent in November.

Speaking at the press briefing, the NBS chief said the hitherto reduction trend had been broken by a slight change in December 2021 as the inflation rate for all items (headline inflation) for the month increased to 15.63 per cent year-on-year.

He said: “Although this is a decline when compared to the corresponding month in 2020, which recorded 15.75 per cent, this trend clearly shows an increase from 15.40 per cent recorded in the month of November 2021 to 15.63 per cent in December 2021.

“This is 0.23 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in November 2021. The change in the declining trend for about eight months might have been caused by an increase in prices of goods and services as a result of an increase in their demand during the month under review, being a festive season.”

On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 1.82 per cent in December 2021.

This is 0.74 per cent higher than the rate recorded in November 2021, which was 1.08 per cent. The urban inflation rate increased to 16.17 per cent (year-on-year) in December 2021 from 16.33 per cent recorded in December 2020, down by 0.16 per cent points, while the rural inflation rate increased to 15.11 per cent in December, 2021 from 15.20 per cent in December 2020, which was lower by 0.09 per cent points.

On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose to 1.87 per cent in December 2021, which was higher by 0.75 per cent points of the rate recorded in November 2021, which was 1.12 per cent, while the rural index also rose to 1.77 per cent in December 2021, higher by 0.73 per cent points of the rate that was recorded in November 2021, which was 1.04 per cent.

The corresponding 12-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index was 17.52 per cent in December 2021.

 This is lower than the rate reported in November of the same year which was 17.55 per cent, while the corresponding 12-month (month-on-month) average percentage change for rural index inflation rate in December, 2021 stood at 16.40 per cent from 16.42 per cent in November 2021.

In the states in December, all items were highest in Ebonyi with 18.71 per cent, while Kwara emerged as the lowest with 12.32 per cent.

On the other hand, food inflation was highest in Kogi State with 22.82 per cent, while Edo State was the lowest with 13.24 per cent.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for their day-to-day living.

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