Nigeria inflation rises to 21.91% amid cash crisis

Nigeria's inflation rate has risen amid the lingering cash crisis occasioned by the controversial cashless policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The inflation rate which was 21.82% in January has risen to 21.91%.

This development was disclosed in a report by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.

The report stated, “In February 2023, the headline inflation rate rose to 21.91% compared to January 2023 headline inflation rate which was 21.82%. Looking at the trend, the February 2023 inflation rate showed an increase of 0.09% points when compared to January 2023 headline inflation rate.

“Similarly, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.21% points higher compared to the rate recorded in February 2022, which was 15.70%. This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in February 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., February 2022)”.

According to the report, the rise in food inflation was caused by the increase in “bread and cereal (21.67 per cent), actual an 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)”.

The rise in inflation came amid a cash crisis that has subjected Nigerians to economic hardship for months.

Interestingly, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele had in January argued that the cashless and naira swap policy he introduced would help in moderating inflation, stabilize the exchange rate and strengthen the country’s currency.

Unfortunately, the failure of policy caused protests in many parts of the country and disrupted economic activities in major capital cities.