According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), bread, cereal, gas, and transportation prices all contributed to Nigeria’s inflation rate reaching a nearly 17-year high in July.
The consumer price index (CPI), a statistic used by the NBS to determine how quickly prices of goods and services fluctuate, increased from 18.60% in June 2022 to 19.64% in July 2022. The rate is the highest since September 2005.
Additionally, the result is 2.27 percent points higher than the rate, which was 17.38 percent in July 2021.
According to the data, the headline inflation rate rose in July 2022 compared to the same month the year before (July 2022).
Cost pressures are being worsened by a high import bill brought on by rising commodity prices, supply constraints, and a decline in the value of the naira, which prompted the Senate to call CBN governor Godwin Emefiele before it.
According to the data, food inflation increased to 22.02 percent in July from 20.60 percent in June.
Price rises for bread and cereals, food items, potatoes, yams, and other tubers, as well as for meat, fish, oil, and fat were the main contributors to this increase in the food index.
“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in July was 2.04%, this was a 0.01% insignificant decline compared to the rate recorded in June 2022 (2.05%),” the report adds.
“This decline is attributed to a reduction in the prices of some food items like tubers, maize, garri, and vegetables.”
A major increase was recorded in all classifications of individual consumption according to purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index, the report showed “on a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in July 2022 was 1.817 %, which was 0.001% higher than the rate recorded in June 2022 (1.816 %).
“The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months period ending July 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 16.75%, showing a 0.46% increase compared to 16.30% recorded in July 2021.”
The report said Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi and Kogi states witnessed the highest prices while Jigawa, Kano and Borno recorded the slowest rise in inflation.
“In July 2022, all items’ inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Akwa Ibom (22.88%), Ebonyi (22.51%), Kogi (22.08%), while Jigawa (16.62%), Kaduna (17.04%) and Borno (18.04%) recorded the slowest rise in headline Year-on-Year inflation,” the report said.
“However, on a month-on-month basis, July 2022 recorded the highest increases in Adamawa (2.87%), Abuja (2.84%), Oyo (2.77%), while Bauchi (0.82%), Kano (0.83%) and Niger (1.03%) recorded the slowest rise on month-on-month inflation.”