With about seven months to the end of 2023, Nigeria’s annual inflation has jumped to 22.22 per cent in April from 22.04 per cent in the previous month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The statistics office said the April 2023 inflation rate climbed by 0.18 per cent compared to the March 2023 headline inflation rate.

The NBS said on a year-on-year basis; the headline inflation rate was 5.40 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in April 2022, which was 16.82 per cent.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate on a year-on-year basis increased in April 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., April 2022),” it said.

The report shows that the food inflation rate rose to 24.61 per cent in April from 24.46 per cent in March.

In its inflation report Monday, the NBS said the contributions of items on the divisional level to the increase in the headline index are Food & non-alcoholic beverages (11.51 per cent), housing water, electricity, gas & other fuel (3.72 per cent), clothing & footwear (1.70 per cent), transport (1.45 per cent), furnishings & household equipment & maintenance (1.12 per cent), education (0.88 per cent), health (0.67 per cent), miscellaneous goods & services (0.37 per cent), restaurant & hotels (0.27 per cent), alcoholic beverages, tobacco & kola (0.24 per cent), recreation & culture (0.15 per cent) and communication (0.15 per cent).

On a month-on-month basis, the report pointed out that the All-Items Index in April 2023 was 1.91 per cent, which was 0.05 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in March 2023 (1.86 per cent).

“This means that in April 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.05 per cent higher relative to March 2023.

“The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending April 2023 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months was 20.82 per cent, showing a 4.37 per cent increase compared to the 16.45 per cent recorded in April 2022,” the report said.

On a month-on-month basis, the Core inflation rate was 1.46 per cent in April 2023. It stood at 1.84 per cent in March 2023, down by 0.38 per cent.

“The average twelve months annual inflation rate was 17.91 per cent for the twelve months ending April 2023; this was 4.23 per cent points higher than the 13.68 per cent recorded in April 2022.”

i-News Nigeria