Nigeria’s Food Inflation Rate Rises By 2.82 As Price Of Goods, Services Surge By 20.52%

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has released yet another worrisome report on the rise in the price of goods and services in the country.

The government agency in its latest report noted that the consumer price index (CPI) which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 20.52 per cent in August 2022, showing a difference of 19.64 per cent when compared to figures in the previous month.

Naija News understands that the interpretation of these is that, Nigeria’s food inflation rate and other services have just hit the highest since October 2005.

NBS noted in the CPI report for August 2022 made available for public consumption on Thursday, September 15, that the rate increase recorded as of August this year was 3.52 per cent higher than the 17.01 per cent recorded in August 2021.

According to the report, increases were recorded in all classifications of individual consumption according to purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.

The report said: “On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August 2022 was 1.77 per cent, this was 0.05 per cent lower than the rate recorded in July 2022 (1.82 per cent). This means that in August 2022 the headline inflation rate (month–on–month basis) declined by 0.05 per cent.

“The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months period ending August 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 17.07 per cent, showing a 0.47 per cent increase compared to 16.60 per cent recorded in August 2021.

”The report added that food inflation rose to 23.12 per cent in August 2022 on a year-on-year basis, representing a 2.82 per cent increase when compared to 20.30 per cent in August 2021.”

The NBS noted that the rise in food inflation was a result of an increase in the prices of bread and cereals, food products like potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, meat, oil and fat.

It added: “On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in August was 1.98 per cent, this was a 0.07 per cent decline compared to the rate recorded in July 2022 (2.04 per cent).

“This decline is attributed to the reduction in prices of some food items like tubers, garri, local rice and vegetables.

“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve-month period ending August 2022 over the previous twelve-month average was 19.02 per cent, which was a 1.48 per cent decline from the average annual rate of change recorded in August 2021 (20.50 per cent).”

Price Stats From States

The NBS reports indicate that on a state level, Anambra and Ondo recorded the highest increase.

It said: “In August 2022, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kwara (30.80 per cent), Ebonyi (28.06 per cent) and Rivers (27.64 per cent), while Jigawa (17.77 per cent), Zamfara (18.79 per cent) and Oyo (19.80 per cent) recorded the slowest rise on year-on-year food inflation.

“On a month-on-month basis, however, August 2022 food inflation was highest in Anambra (3.05 per cent), Ondo (2.92 per cent) and Bauchi (2.78 per cent), while Yobe (0.46 per cent), Oyo (0.89 per cent) and Delta (0.94 per cent) recorded the slowest rise on month-on-month inflation.”