The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday said that Nigeria’s headline inflation rose to 16.47 per cent in January 2021.

Inflation soared at 15.75 per cent in December, its highest level in 32 months, with the 0.86 per cent month-on-month increase marking the 16th consecutive month inflation would increase in Nigeria.

The level of the inflation was triggered by the galloping rise in food prices as the food inflation rose to 20.57 per cent in January, from 19.56 per cent in December.

According to the NBS, Core Inflation rose to 11.85 per cent in January 2021, from 11.37 per cent in December.

Earlier in November, it touched 14.89 per cent.

The new increase signals that there is a long way towards recovery for Africa’s largest economy, which slipped into its second recession in four years and the worst in nearly four decades in the third quarter of 2020.