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Tougher Times Ahead For Nigerians As Inflation Rate Hits 19.64%, Highest In 17 Years – NBS

Many Nigerians may be finding it more difficult to afford the basic needs of life as headline inflation rate rises in the month of July 2022 to all time high of 19.64% since 2005.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed the figures in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) for July 2022 released on Monday.

In a statement, the Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer NBS, Semiu Adeniran, explained that the CPI measures the average change in the prices of goods and services consumed daily over time.

“It is a core macroeconomic indicator used in the derivation of the inflation rate for policy, planning, and monitoring of an economy.

“In July 2022, on a year–on–year basis, the headline inflation rate was 19.64 per cent. This is 2.27 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in July 2021, which was 17.38 per cent.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate increased in July 2022 when compared to the same month in the previous year of July 2021.

“This means that in July 2022, the general price level was 2.26 per cent higher than in July 2021,’’ the statement read.

He noted that the increase in inflation was caused by an increase in food index owing to the disruption in the supply of essential food merchandises as well as increase in the cost of transportation arising from higher cost of energy.

Adeniran added that the rising inflation is also attributable to increase in import costs as a result of currency depreciation, as well as a general increase in the cost of production.

“On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in July 2022 was 1.817 per cent, which was higher than the rate recorded in June 2022 at 1.816 per cent.

“The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending July 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 16.75 per cent. This is showing a 0.46 per cent increase compared to 16.30 per cent recorded in July 2021.’’

“The composite food index on a year-on-year basis was 22.02 per cent in July 2022, showing a rise compared to 21.03 per cent in July 2021.”

According to the NBS data,  the rise in the food index was caused by increase in prices of bread and cereals, food products, potatoes, meat, fish, oil and fat, yam and other tubers,.

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