Nigeria’s inflation rate hits 22% in May

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 22.41 per cent in May 2023.

The NBS made this known via its Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for May 2023 released on Thursday, June 15.

According to the report, the figure is 0.19 per cent points higher compared to the 22.22 per cent recorded in April 2023.

It said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate in May 2023 was 4.70 per cent higher than the rate recorded in May 2022 at 17.71 per cent.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in May 2023 compared to the same period in May 2022,” it noted.

The NBS said the contributions of items on the divisional level to the increase in the headline index are food and non-alcoholic beverages at 11.61 per cent and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel at 3.75 per cent.

Others include clothing and footwear at 1.71per cent; transport at 1.46 per cent; furnishings, household equipment and maintenance at 1.13 per cent and education at 0.88 per cent, health at 0.67 per cent.

“Miscellaneous goods and services at 0.37 per cent; restaurant and hotels at 0.27 per cent; alcoholic beverage, tobacco and kola at 0.24 per cent; recreation and culture at 0.15 per cent and communication at 0.15 per cent,” it added.

The percentage change in the average CPI for the 12 months ending May 2023 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 21.20 per cent.

“This indicates a 4.75 per cent increase compared to the 16.45 per cent recorded in May 2022,” the NBS stated.

It said increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.

The NBS said the food inflation rate in May 2023 was 24.82 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 5.33 per cent higher compared to the rate recorded in May 2022 at 19.50 per cent.

“The rise in food inflation is caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yams and other tubers, and oil and fat, fish, vegetable, fruits, meat, and spirits,” it noted.

It said on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in May was 2.19 per cent, which was a 0.06 per cent rise compared to the rate recorded in April 2023 at 2.13 per cent.

The NBS said the “All items less farm produce’’ or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 20.06 per cent in May 2023 on a year-on-year basis.

It added: “This increased by 5.16 per cent compared to 14.90 per cent recorded in May 2022.

“On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was 1.81 per cent in May 2023, which was a 0.37 per cent rise compared to what it stood at in April 2023 at 1.46 per cent.”

According to the NBS, the highest increases were recorded in prices of gas, passenger transport by Air, liquid fuel, fuels, lubricants for Personal transport equipment, and vehicles spare parts.

“Others are passenger transport by road, medical services among others.

“The average 12-month annual inflation rate was 17.33 per cent for the 12 months ending May 2023, this was 4.50 per cent points higher than the 13.83 per cent recorded in May 2022,” it noted.

The Star