Driven by food prices, Nigeria’s headline inflation hits 25% in August

Data from Nigeria’s Bureau of Statistics show that Nigeria’s headline inflation hit 25% in August, representing a 1.17% increase from July. Food prices drove the uptick.

Data from Nigeria’s Bureau of Statistics showed that headline inflation for August hit 25.08%. This is a 1.72% increase from July’s inflation figure, which was 24%, hitting an 18-year high. Nigeria’s inflation rate has stayed above 20% all year, as the headline inflation rate was 5.27% higher than the rate recorded in August 2022.

Food, beverages drive inflation

August’s inflation was again driven by an increase in the prices of food and nonalcoholic beverages as food inflation for the month also climbed to 29.34%. According to the NBS, “The rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of Oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, fruit, meat, vegetables and potatoes, yam and other tubers, vegetable, milk, cheese and eggs.”

Kogi, Lagos and Bayelsa had the fightest food inflation figures while Kogi, Lagos and Rivers suffered all-items inflation at the sub-national level. Housing, water, electricity and gas also contributed to rising prices. At the same time, transportation was the fourth biggest driver of inflation, as the effect of fuel subsidy removal continues to be felt by individuals.

Last month, at the Central Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting, the bank elected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points. This came after disagreement on the best policy to control inflation and the apex bank’s role in stabilizing the economy. Already, there is a lot of apprehension as another MPC committee meeting draws close in two weeks, as to what policy the committee would adopt to stem the growing inflation. Today’s inflation data suggests the need to arrest food inflation as the government’s policy is unclear. The government has proposed a commodity board but it has thus proven ineffective in curbing food inflation.

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