Food price raises Nigeria’s inflation rate to 22.79% – Report

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, July 17, 2023, has shown that the inflation rate in Nigeria has now accelerated for the sixth consecutive time to 22.79 percent in June 2023.

The inflation rate has now risen to a new 17-year high of 22.79 percent from 22.41 percent in May 2023.

The NBS report read, “In June 2023, the Headline inflation rate rose to 22.79 percent relative to May 2023 headline inflation rate, which was 22.41 percent. Looking at the movement, the June 2023 Headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.38 percentage points when compared to May 2023 headline inflation rate.

“On a year-on-year basis, the Headline inflation rate was 4.19 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in June 2022, which was 18.60 percent. This shows that the Headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in June 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., June 2022).”

Food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 11.81 percent of the 22.79 percent, which implies the two contributed largely to the rising inflation figure.

The World Bank had projected that the removal of fuel subsidy would contribute to the country’s increasing inflation and in its June 2023 Nigeria Development Update, the bank said, “The removal of the petrol subsidy is anticipated to cause a temporary increase in inflation in the upcoming months before contributing to disinflation in the medium term.”

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