The consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of commodities and services, increased from 22.04 percent to 22.22 percent in April 2023.
Monday’s publication of the most recent CPI report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) contains information on the inflation rate.
This is the fourth consecutive increase in the country’s inflation rate since the beginning of the year.
According to the report, the headline inflation rate for April 2023 was 0.18 percentage points higher than the headline inflation rate for March 2023.
“Similarly, on a year-over-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 5.40 percentage points higher than in April 2022, when it was 16.82%.
This indicates that the headline annual inflation rate increased in April 2023 when compared to the same month the previous year (April 2022).
NBS stated that items such as food and non-alcoholic beverages; accommodation, water, electricity, gas and other fuel contributed significantly to the increase in the headline index at the divisional level.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages (11.51%); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (3.72%).”
“Clothing and footwear (1.70 percent); transportation (1.45 percent); furnishings, household equipment and maintenance (1.12 percent); education (0.88 percent); health (0.67 percent); miscellaneous goods and services (0.37 percent); restaurants and hotels (0.27 percent); alcoholic beverage, tobacco and kola (0.24 percent); recreation and culture (0.15 percent); and communication (0.15 percent).”
In the month under review, food inflation increased to 24.61 percent, up from 24.45 percent in the prior month, according to the report.
NBS explained that the increase in the food index was the result of price increases for oil and fat, bread and cereals, salmon, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fruits, meat, vegetables, and spirits.
The report continues, “Month-over-month, the food inflation rate in April 2023 was 2.13 percent, up 0.06% from the rate recorded in March 2023 (2.07 percent).”
The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending in April 2023 compared to the average of the preceding twelve months was 23.22%, which was 4.35% points higher than the average annual rate of change recorded in April 2022 (18.88%).
According to the NBS’s analysis of state profiles, residents of Kogi, Kwara, and Bayelsa paid the most for food during the period under review.
In April 2023, food inflation was highest in Kogi (29.50%), Kwara (29.48%), and Bayelsa (29.38%), while Sokoto (19.55%), Taraba (20.20%), and Jigawa (20.68%) recorded the weakest increase.
On a month-to-month basis, however, food inflation in April 2023 was highest in Cross River (4.65%), Bayelsa (3.61%), and Ekiti (3.49%), while Jigawa (0.14%), Katsina (0.44%), and Osun (0.62%) recorded the weakest increase.