Nigeria’s inflation rate surged to 19.64 percent in July 2022, the highest level seen in the previous 17 years.
The sharp increase was fuelled by the soaring cost of food due to an increase in transportation costs and supply chain interruptions brought on by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
According to data made public by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, the headline inflation rate for July increased by 1.817 percent from the previous month of June 2022, when it increased by 18.62 percent.
On a year-over-year basis, headline inflation for July 2022 was 19.64 percent; this rate was 2.27 percentage points higher than the figure for July 2021, which was 17.38 percent.
As a result, it can be inferred that the headline inflation rate rose in July 2022 when compared to the same month the year before, and that increases were seen throughout all COICOP divisions that produced the Headline index.
According to the NBS, “the average composite CPI for the twelve months ending in July 2022 was 16.75 percent above the average of the CPI for the preceding twelve months period, suggesting an increase compared to 16.30 percent reported in July 2021.”
It said that the composite food index increased from 21.03 percent in July 2021 to 22.02 percent in July 2022 on an annual basis.
According to the NBS, price rises in bread and cereals, food goods n.e.c., potatoes, yams, and other tubers, meat, fish, oil, and fat were to blame for the increase in the food index.
The index for all items less farm produce (Core inflation), which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce, stood at 16.26 percent in July 2022 on an annual basis; this was higher when compared to the 13.72 percent recorded in July 2021.
On a month-to-month basis, the food sub-index in July 2022 was 2.04 percent, down from the 2.05 percent recorded in June 2022.
The core sub-index increased from 1.56 percent reported in June 2022 to 1.75 percent month over month in July 2022.
The NBS added, “The costs of Gas, Liquid Fuel, Solid Fuel, Passenger Transport by Road, Passenger Transport by Air, Garments, Cleaning, Repair and Hire of Clothing were recorded in the largest increases.”
In July 2022, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for urban areas had an annual inflation rate of 20.09 percent when compared to rural areas.
This was greater than the 18.01 percent reported in July 2021; on a month-to-month basis, the urban inflation rate in July 2022 was 1.8209 percent, which was lower than June 2022’s 1.82211 percent.
According to the NBS data, rural inflation was 19.22% on an annual basis in July 2022, higher than the 16.75% recorded in July 2021. On a month-to-month basis, the rural rate was 1.811% in July 2022, also higher than 1.809% in June 2022.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reports that “All Items Inflation for the States in July 2022 on a year-on-year basis was highest in Akwa Ibom with 22.88%, followed by Ebonyi with 22.51%, and Kogi with 22.08%, while the slowest rise was recorded in Jigawa with 16.62%, followed by Kaduna with 17.04%, and Borno with 18.04%.”
