Contrary to the predictions by many economic analysts that Nigeria’s inflation would sustain its December 2022 moderation trend in January this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday reported that the nation’s general price level returned to its spiking lane, rising to 21.82% in January.
The January rate represented a 0.47% increase when compared to the 21.34% recorded in the previous month.
The Bureau in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) January 2023 report disclosed that food inflation surged to 24.32% in January from 23.75% recorded in December 2022, while core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce rose to 19.16% in the review month compared to 18.49% last December.
According to the CPI data, the highest increases were notably recorded in prices of Gas, Liquid Fuel, Passenger Transport by Air, Vehicles Spare Parts, Fuels, and Lubricants for Personal Transport Equipment, Solid Fuel, etc.
The statistics agency linked the surge in the food index rate to an increase in the prices of some food items like Oil and Fat, Bread and Cereals, Fish, Potatoes, Yam & Tubers, etc.
An analysis of the report showed that urban inflation stood at 22.55%, showing a 6.38% increase year-on-year from January 2022 and that on a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate stood at 1.98% in the month under review, representing a 0.17% points higher compared to 1.80% recorded last December.
Also, the CPI report reflected that rural inflation rose to 21.13% in January this year, or a 6.08% increase from the corresponding period of last year, adding that on a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate was 1.77%, up by 0.14% points compared to December 2022 (1.63%).
On core inflation, an index which monitors the price movement of all items except farm produce, the Bureau that the rate stood at 19.16%, indicating an increase from the 18.49% rate of December 2022, while when compared year-on-year from January 2022, core inflation rose by 5.29%.
A further analysis of the CPI report on state-by-state basis showed that Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) Bauchi recorded the highest rate of 24.7%, followed by Ondo (24.54%), and Anambra (24.51%), while Jigawa (19.09%), Borno (19.62%), and Sokoto (19.90%) recorded the lowest inflation rates
The Bureau clarified, however, that on a month-to-month basis, Lagos recorded the highest change in headline inflation at 2.91%, followed by Taraba at 2.84%; and Ondo at 2.68% while Yobe (0.54%), Jigawa (0.73%), and Oyo (0.87%) recorded the lowest.
