Nigeria’s Inflation Rises 17.71% in May Amid Hike in Food Prices

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday revealed that the inflation rate in Nigeria in the month of May 2022 went up by 17.71 per cent (year-on-year), the highest in 11 months.

A month earlier, Nigeria’s inflation was 16.82 per cent (year-on-year), indicating that on a month-on-month basis, the figure rose by 0.89 per cent and moderated by 0.22 per cent when compared with the 17.93 per cent achieved in May 2021.

According to the data released by the stats office today, the average price of the components of the consumer price index (CPI) amid a rise in the composite food index by 19.50 per cent triggered by increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products n.e.c, potatoes, yam, and other tubers, wine, fish, meat, and oils.

A breakdown of the figures showed that on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate increased by 1.78 per cent in May 2022, higher than the 1.76 per cent recorded in April 2022.

The NBS also stated that the percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending May 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 16.45 per cent, higher than the 15.50 per cent reported in May 2021 by 0.95 per cent.

The report further revealed that the urban inflation rate increased to 18.24 per cent (year-on-year), lower than the 18.51 per cent posted in the same month of last year by 0.27 per cent.

On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate rose to 1.81 per cent in the period under consideration, 0.03 per cent higher than the 1.78 per cent achieved in April 2022.

The corresponding twelve-month average percentage change for the urban index was 17.00 per cent in May 2022 as against the 16.09 per cent in May 2021.

As for the rural inflation rate, it increased by 17.21 per cent in May 2022 (year-on-year) in contrast to the 17.36 per cent in May 2021. On a month-on-month basis, this rose by 1.76 per cent compared with 1.74 per cent in April 2022 and the corresponding 12 months average percentage change last month was 15.91 per cent as against the 14.94 per cent recorded in May 2021.

For the food index, it increased by 2.01 per cent on a month-on-month basis in contrast to 2.00 per cent in April 2022, while the average annual rate of change of the food sub-index for 12 months period ending May 2022 over the previous 12 months average stood at 18.68 per cent compared with the 19.18 per cent posted in May 2021.