Nigeria’s inflation rate accelerates to 20.52%, highest in 17 years

Nigeria’s headline inflation rate accelerated by 88 basis points to 20.52 per cent year on year in September 2022 from 19.64 per cent in August, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) latest report has revealed.

The current inflation reading is the highest since September 2005 when the Consumer Price Index (CPI) settled at 24.32 per cent.

The development showed that the price level in Africa’s largest economy by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been worsening due to internal and external market dislocations.

The uptrend in the CP1, according to the statistics office was driven by the food index.

On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation eased by five basis points to 1.77 per cent, according to data from the statistics office.

In September, food inflation rose to its highest level since October 2005 when it printed at 24.56 per cent, increasing by 110 basis points to 23.12 per cent year on year.

It advanced ahead July figure when it rested at 22.02 per cent. Notably, the rise in food inflation was caused by increased prices of Bread and cereals, Food products, Potatoes, yams and other tubers, fish, meat, oil and fat.

On a month-on-month basis, food inflation settled at 1.98 per cent, relative to the 2.04 per cent m/m recorded in the previous month.

Similarly, the core inflation rose by 94 basis points to 17.20 per cent as against 16.26 per cent reported last month. This is the highest level since January 2017 when it settled at 17.87 per cent year on year.

NBS reveals that pressures were most significant in prices of Gas, Liquid fuel, Solid fuel, Passenger transport by road, Passenger transport by Air, fuel and lubricants for personal transport equipment, Cleaning, Repair and Hire of clothing.