Nigeria’s inflation rises again to 21.91% amid Naira scarcity

Nigeria’s inflation rate climbed to a new 17-year high of 21.91 per cent in February 2023 on the backdrop of the new naira note design and uncertainties relating to the presidential election.

This was contained in the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Consumer Price Index (CPI) report published on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.

This comes amid the uncertainties being faced by Nigerians due to the scarcity of the redesigned Naira notes

The inflation rate for February is a 0.09 per cent point increase compared to the 21.82 per cent recorded in the previous month.

Similarly, food inflation rose to 24.35 per cent year-on-year in the review month from 24.32 per cent recorded in the previous month.

On the other hand, core inflation dropped to 18.84 per cent from 19.16 per cent.

NBS, in its report, noted that the rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruits, meat, vegetable, and food products.

The report noted that the contributions of items on a class basis to the increase in the headline index are bread and cereal (21.67 per cent), actual and imputed rent (7.74 per cent), potatoes, yam and other tubers (6.06 per cent), vegetable (5.44 per cent) and meat (4.78 per cent).

“On a month-on-month basis, the percentage change in the All-Items Index in February 2023 was 1.71 per cent, which was 0.16 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in January 2023 (1.87 per cent).

“This means that in February 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.16 per cent lower relative to January 2023.”