Nigeria’s inflation rises again in April, Bayelsa records highest

Nigeria’s inflation rate continues its uptrend despite multiple interest rate hikes by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), rising to 22.22 per cent in April, a 0.18 per cent point higher than the 22.04 per cent recorded in March.

Recall that the CBN has increased the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) from 11.5 per cent to 18 per cent between May last year and March 2023.

Inflation has jumped by 652 basis points between February 2022 to date, moving in tandem with interest rates.

Between May 2022 and March 2023, interest rates have been increased by 650 basis points to 18 per cent from 11.5 per cent.

The rising inflationary pressure indicates a worsening erosion of Nigerians’ purchasing power.

According to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s inflation rate has increased for the fourth consecutive month, maintaining the highest rate in 17 years. Compared to the corresponding period of 2022, inflation increased by 5.4 per cent from 16.82 per cent recorded in April 2022.

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On a month-on-month basis, the All-Items Index in April 2023 was 1.91 per cent, which was 0.05 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in March 2023 (1.86 per cent).

The food inflation rate in April 2023 was 24.61 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 6.24 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in April 2022 (18.37 per cent) and 24.35 per cent recorded in the previous month.

The highest increases were recorded in prices of gas, air transport, liquid fuel, vehicle spare parts, fuels, and lubricants for personal transport equipment, medical services, and road transport.

The contributions of items on the divisional level to the increase in the headline index are; food and non-alcoholic beverages (11.51 per cent), housing water, electricity, gas and other fuel (3.72 per cent), clothing and footwear (1.7 per cent), and transport (1.45 per cent).

During the month under review, all items inflation rate (on a year-on-year basis) was highest in Bayelsa (26.14 per cent), Kogi (25.57 per cent), and Rivers (24.95 per cent). On the flip side, Borno (19.06 per cent), Taraba (19.64 per cent) and Sokoto (19.90 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis.

In terms of food inflation on a year-on-year basis, it was highest in Kogi (29.50 per cent), Kwara (29.48 per cent), and Bayelsa (29.38 per cent), while Sokoto (19.55 per cent), Taraba (20.20 per cent) and Jigawa (20.68 per cent) recorded the slowest rise.