Nigeria’s inflation experienced a notable surge in August, reaching 25.80%, which is 1.72% higher than the previous month’s figure of 24.08%. This was revealed in the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for August 2023 released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
This substantial increase can be attributed to the effects of removing petrol subsidies and the devaluation of the official exchange rate, both of which had an impact on consumer prices. Additionally, month-on-month inflation also saw an increase, rising to 3.18% during the review month, up from 2.89% in the preceding month.
Other factors attributed to the increase include housing, food, and electricity.
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“In terms of contribution to the year-on-year inflation, Food and non-alcoholic beverages (13.36%) contributed the most, followed by housing water, electricity, gas and other fuel (4.32%), and clothing and footwear (1.97%),” the NBS said.
“On a year-on-year basis, in August 2023, the Urban inflation rate was 27.69%, this was 6.73% points higher compared to the 20.95% recorded in August 2022. The Rural inflation rate stood at 24.10%, representing a 3.98% points increase compared to the 20.12% recorded in August 2022,” the agency added.
Food inflation reached one of its highest rates, surging to 29.34% in August 2023. This marks a substantial increase of 2.35% points compared to the previous month’s rate of 26.98% and is notably 6.22% points higher than the rate recorded in the same period of 2022, which was 23.12%.
On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate for August 2023 stood at 3.87%, indicating a 0.41% point increase when compared to the rate recorded in July 2023, which was 3.45%.
The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending in August 2023, when compared to the previous twelve-month average, was 25.01%. This represents a significant increase of 5.99% points from the average annual rate of change recorded in August 2022, which was 19.02%.
The rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis can be attributed to increases in the prices of various food items, including Oil and fat, Bread and cereals, Fish, Fruit, Meat, Vegetables and Potatoes, Yam and other Tubers, Vegetable, and Milk, Cheese, and Eggs. These factors collectively contributed to the observed increase in food prices.
Talking about ‘All items less farm produce’, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce, the NBS said it stood at 21.15% in August 2023 on a year-on-year basis; up by 0.67% when compared to the 20.47% recorded in July 2023.
“On a month-on-month basis, the Core Inflation rate was 2.18% in August 2023. It stood at 2.11% in July 2023, up by 0.07%.
“The average twelve-month annual inflation rate was 19.18% for the twelve months ending August 2023; this was 4.38% points higher than the 14.80% recorded in August 2022.
“The highest increases were recorded in prices of Passenger Transport by Air, Passenger Transport by Road, Medical Services, Vehicle Spare parts, Maintenance, and repair of personal transport equipment etc,” it said.
When it comes to state inflation, Lagos leads other states with the highest rate, while Sokoto holds the lowest rate.
“In August 2023, all items inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi (31.50%), Lagos (29.17%), and Rivers (29.06%), while Sokoto (20.91%), Borno (21.77%) and Nasarawa (22.25%) recorded the slowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis,” the NBS said.
Food inflation on a year-on-year basis exhibited significant regional variation. The highest food inflation rates were observed in Kogi at 38.84%, followed by Lagos at 36.04%, and Kwara at 35.33%.
Conversely, the slowest rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was recorded in Sokoto at 20.09%, Nasarawa at 24.35%, and Jigawa at 24.53%. These regions experienced comparatively lower increases in food prices during the specified period.