Festive season demand pushes Nigeria’s inflation to 21.47%

The consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, surged to 21.47 percent in November 2022, up from 21.09 percent in the previous month.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said this on Thursday in its latest consumer price index (CPI) report.

This the 10th consecutive increase in inflation this year.

The rate is 6.07 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in November 2021 which was 15.40 percent.

This means that headline inflation rate rose higher in November 2022 compared to the same month in the previous year.

NBS attributed the increase in the monthly inflation rate to the sharp increase in demand usually experienced during the festive season.

It listed other likely factors responsible for the surge to include increase in cost of importation due to the persistent currency depreciation and general increase in the cost of production.

The NBS report said all increases were recorded in all classifications of individual consumption according to purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.

“On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in November 2022 was 1.39 percent, this was 0.15 percent higher than the rate recorded in October 2022 (1.24 percent),” the report reads.

“This means that in the month of November 2022, the general price level was 0.15 percent higher relative to October 2022.

“The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months period ending November 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 18.37 percent, showing a 1.39 percent increase compared to 16.98 percent recorded in November 2021.”

FOOD INFLATION RISES TO 24.13 PERCENT

The report also said food inflation rose to 24.13 percent in the month under review, an uptick compared to the 23.72 percent recorded in the preceding month.

The rise in the food index, NBS said, was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products, potatoes, yam and other tubers, oil and fat.

“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in November was 1.40 percent, this was 0.17 percent higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022 (1.23 percent),” the report added.

“This increase was attributed to an increase in prices of some food items like oil and fat, fruits, fish, and tubers.

“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve-month period ending November 2022 over the previous twelve-month average was 20.41 percent, which was 0.21 percent points lower from the average annual rate of change recorded in November 2021 (20.62 percent)”.