Inflation rate rises to 22.22% in April, still highest in 17 years

According to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria's headline inflation rate increased to 22.22% in April 2023, a 0.18% rise from the previous month's rate of 22.04%.

This marks the fourth consecutive month of rising inflation, maintaining the highest rate in 17 years.

Compared to April 2022, inflation has surged by 5.4%, from 16.82%.

Despite the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) multiple interest rate hikes in the past year to curb the rising inflation rate, the country's inflation rate continues to increase.

The CBN has raised the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) from 11.5% to 18% between May last year and March 2023.

In April 2023, the All-Items Index rose by 1.91% on a month-on-month basis, indicating that the general price level was 0.05% higher than in March 2023.

Food inflation stood at 24.61% in April 2023, a year-on-year increase of 6.24% compared to the rate recorded in April 2022 (18.37%) and 24.35% recorded in the previous month.

The surge in food inflation was caused by increases in the prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, potatoes, yam, and other tubers, fruits, meat, vegetables, and spirits.

The Core inflation rate, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce, was 20.14% in April 2023 on a year-on-year basis, up by 5.96% compared to the 14.18% recorded in April 2022. It is also higher than the 19.86% recorded in March 2023.

The highest price increases were observed in gas, air transport, liquid fuel, vehicle spare parts, fuels, and lubricants for personal transport equipment, medical services, and road transport.

The food and non-alcoholic beverages division contributed the most to the increase in the headline index, accounting for 11.51%, followed by housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel at 3.72%, clothing, and footwear at 1.7%, and transport at 1.45%.