Nigeria’s inflation rate rises to 15.63%, after eight months of decline

After eight months of decline, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 15.36 per cent in December 2021, from 15.50 per cent recorded in November.

The Statistician-General of the Federation, Simon Harry, disclosed this on Monday during a press briefing at the National Bureau of Statistics, Abuja.

Earlier data from the NBS showed that headline inflation has been on a downward trajectory since April 2021.

However, the trend was broken in December when year-on-year inflation climbed 0.23 points higher than figure recorded in November.

Speaking at the briefing, Harry said, “However, it may interest you to note that this trend has been broken by the slight change in the month of December, 2021 as the inflation rate for all items for the month increased to 15.63 per cent, year-on-year.

“Although, this is a decline when compared to the corresponding month in 2020 which recorded 15.75 per cent.

“This trend clearly shows an increase from 15.40 per cent recorded in the month of November, 2021 to 15.63% in December, 2021.”

“This is 0.23 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in November, 2021.

He added that the change in the declining trend might have been caused by the increase in prices of goods and services driven by increased demand during the month under review, being a festive season.