Nigeria’s inflation rate reaches 11-month high, hits 17.71%

The consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, surged to 17.71 percent in May 2022, up from 16.82 percent in the previous month.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for 2022 released on Wednesday.

The figure is 0.22 points lower than the 17.93 percent recorded in May 2021.

With the development, it means that the headline inflation rate slowed down in May 2022 compared to the same month in the previous year.

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

“On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate increased to 1.78 percent in May 2022, this is also 0.02 percent rate higher than the rate recorded in April 2022 (1.76) percent,” the report reads.

“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending May 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period is 16.45 percent, showing a 0.95 percent increase compare to the 15.50 percent recorded in May 2021.

“The urban inflation rate increased to 18.24 percent (year-on-year); this is a 0.27 percent decline compared to 18.51 percent recorded in May 2021. On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate rose to 1.81 percent in May 2022, this is a 0.03 percent increase compared to April 2022 (1.78).

“The corresponding twelve-month average percentage change for the urban index is 17.00 percent in May 2022. This is 0.91 percent higher compared to 16.09 percent reported in May 2021. The rural inflation rate increased to 17.21 percent in May 2022 (year-on-year) basis; this is a 0.15 percent decline compared to 17.36 recorded in May 2021.”

On a month-on-month basis, NBS said the rural index rose to 1.76 percent in May 2022, up by 0.02 percent from the rate recorded in April 2022 (1.74%), while the corresponding twelve-month average percentage change for the rural inflation rate in May 2022 is 15.91 percent.

The figure is 0.97 percent higher compared to 14.94 percent recorded in May 2021.

The report said the composite food index rose to 19.50 percent in May 2022 on a year-on-year basis but declined by 2.78 percent compared to 22.28 percent in May 2021.

It added that the hike in the price of bread and cereals, yam, fish, meat, oil and other food products contributed to the rise in the food index.

“On a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased to 2.01percent in May 2022, up by 0.01 percent points from 2.00 percent recorded in April 2022,” it added.

“The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending May 2022 over the previous twelve-month average is 18.68 percent, 0.05 percent points decline from the average annual rate of change recorded in May 2021 (19.18) percent.”