Nigeria’s inflation rate hits 8-month high at 16.82% for April

Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose to 16.82 in April from 15.92 per cent in March, representing 8-month high, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.

Food-price inflation rose to 18.37 per cent in April from 17.20 per cent in March, reflecting increases in the prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, wine, fish meat and oils, the NBS said.

According to the NBS report, increases were recorded in all classifications of individual consumption according to purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.

“On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased to 1.76 per cent in April 2022, this is a 0.02 per cent rate higher than the rate recorded in March 2022 (1.74) per cent,” the report reads.

“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending April 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period is 16.45 per cent, showing a 0.1 per cent decrease compare to the 16.54 per cent recorded in March 2022.

“The urban inflation rate increased to 17.35 per cent (year-on-year) in April 2022 from 18.68 per cent recorded in April 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased to 16.32 per cent in April 2022 from 17.57 per cent in April 2021.”

Since February, the Russia-Ukraine war has caused a hike in global oil and food prices.