Economy
Nigeria’s Inflation Bites Harder, Jumps to 20.52% in August 2022
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s inflation hit an almost 17-year high as the price of goods and services surged further by 20.52 per cent in the month of August 2022 from 19.64 per cent recorded in the previous month.
This represents the highest rate since September 2005, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday.
The data showed that Nigeria’s CPI rose by 20.52 per cent year-on-year in August 2022 and on a month-on-month basis, the index rose by 1.77 per cent compared to the 1.82 per cent increase recorded in the previous month.
Also, the urban inflation rate stood at 20.95 per cent, 3.36 per cent higher than the 17.59 per cent recorded in August 2021. The rural inflation rate in August 2022 was 20.12 per cent on a year-on-year basis; 3.69 per cent higher than the 16.43 per cent recorded in August 2021.
In the report, the NBS disclosed that food inflation rose to 23.12 per cent in August 2022, representing a 1.1 percentage point increase compared to 22.02 per cent recorded in the previous month.
On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate stood at 1.98 per cent, 0.07 per cent lower than the 2.04 per cent recorded in the previous month.
According to the NBS, the rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, food product, potatoes, yams, and other tubers, fish, meat, oil, and fat.
Meanwhile, the average annual rate of food inflation for the 12-month period ending August 2022 over the previous 12-month average was 19.02 per cent, which was a 1.48 per cent decline from the average annual rate of change recorded in August 2021 (20.50 per cent).
The ‘’All items less farm produce’’ or core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 17.20 per cent in August 2022 on a year-on-year basis; up by 0.94 per cent when compared to 16.26 per cent recorded in July 2022.
On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was 1.59 per cent in August 2022. This was down by 0.17 per cent when compared to 1.75 per cent recorded in July 2022.
Notably, the highest increases were recorded in prices of Gas, Liquid fuel, Solid fuel, Passenger transport by road, Passenger transport by Air, fuel and lubricants for personal transport equipment, Cleaning, Repair, and Hire of clothing.
In August 2022, all items inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Ebonyi (25.33 per cent), Rivers (23.70 per cent), Bayelsa (23.01 per cent), while Jigawa (17.30 per cent), Borno (17.56 per cent) and Zamfara (18.04 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in headline Year-on-Year inflation.
Meanwhile, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kwara (30.80 per cent), Ebonyi (28.06 per cent) and Rivers (27.64 per cent), while Jigawa (17.77 per cent), Zamfara (18.79 per cent) and Oyo (19.80 per cent) recorded the slowest rise on year-on-year food inflation.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Four securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.95 per cent on Friday, erasing N41.17 billion from the bourse, which had its market capitalisation at N2.567 trillion compared with the previous session’s N2.618 trillion.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) decreased at the close of business by 85.28 points to 4,277.07 points from 4,362.32 points.
The price decliners were led by 11 Plc, which gave up N20.50 to sell at N200.50 per share compared with the preceding day’s N221.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dropped N16.94 to close at N155.20 per unit versus Thursday’s closing price of N172.14 per unit, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went down by N2.11 to N84.68 per share from N86.79 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc lost 11 Kobo to end at N16.74 per unit, in contrast to the N16.85 per unit it closed a day earlier.
During the trading day, the value of transactions jumped by 172.1 per cent to N29.9 million from the preceding session’s N10.9 million, and the volume of trades soared by 136.5 per cent to 955,096 units from the previous 403,901 units, while the number of deals went down by 11.4 per cent to 31 deals from 35 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.6 million units sold for N4.7 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The last trading session of this week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note, with a 0.66 per cent loss on Friday.
This was influenced by sustained selling pressure and cautious trading, which forced investors into profit-taking.
Data obtained by Business Post showed that the energy sector fell by 4.66 per cent, the insurance counter dipped by 2.23 per cent, the consumer goods index depreciated by 0.96 per cent, and the banking segment shed 0.28 per cent, while the industrial goods space remained unchanged.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) of Nigeria’s stock exchange went down by 1,531.81 points to 232,049.02 points from 233,580.83 points, and the market capitalisation dropped N983 billion to settle at N148.905 trillion compared with Thursday’s N149.888 trillion.
Aradel was the worst-performing equity after it lost 10.00 per cent to close at N1,417.50. International Energy Insurance slipped by 9.95 per cent to N5.79, Trans-Nationwide Express depreciated by 9.89 per cent to N3.28, eTranzact crashed by 9.79 per cent to N14.75, and UPDC slumped by 9.72 per cent to N28.12.
The best-performing equity for the day was Universal Insurance, which gained 6.32 per cent to close at N1.01, McNichols grew by 5.52 per cent to N8.60, Linkage Assurance expanded by 4.67 per cent to N1.57, NGX Group appreciated by 4.35 per cent to N120.00, and Transcorp increased by 3.62 per cent to N41.50.
As look at the activity level indicated that investors traded 388.7 million stocks worth N18.4 billion in 44,631 deals compared with the 393.7 million stocks valued at N19.2 billion executed in 45,813 deals a day earlier, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 1.27 per cent, 4.17 per cent, and 2.58 per cent, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira recorded a loss of 82 Kobo or 0.06 per cent against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 26, exchanging at N1,380.93/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N1,380.11/$1.
Equally, the domestic currency further weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N6.06 to settle at N1,824.90/£1 versus the preceding session’s N1,818.84/£1, and lost N10.74 on the Euro to sell at N1,577 .58/€1 versus N1,566.84/€1.
At the GTBank forex counter, the Naira depreciated against the greenback during the session by N4 to close at N1,387/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s value of N1,383/$1, and at the parallel market, it was unchanged at N1,395/$1.
Interbank FX activity among financial institutions has fluctuated amid a sharp slowdown in forex market interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as it allows demand and supply to move the market.
Also, a stronger greenback has generally put significant pressure on emerging-market currencies.
Nigeria has accessed the first tranche of a proposed $5 billion derivatives financing arrangement with First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, the largest lender in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The $5 billion facility, approved by the National Assembly earlier this year, is part of the federal government’s plan to diversify external financing sources and reduce borrowing costs. Structured as a Total Return Swap with First Abu Dhabi Bank, proceeds are earmarked for refinancing debt and supporting infrastructure financing.
If the proceeds are brought into the country through the official FX market, the transaction will increase the currency reserves or Dollar liquidity.
At the cryptocurrency market, Solana (SOL) grew by 2.2 per cent to $71.92, Cardano (ADA) gained 1.1 per cent to trade at $0.1474, Ripple (XRP) also appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $1.05, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 0.9 per cent to $0.0755, and Ethereum (ETH) improved by 0.4 per cent to $1,578.84.
On the flip side, TRON (TRX) slid 0.6 per cent to $0.3203, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 0.3 per cent to $564.33, and Bitcoin fell by 0.2 per cent to $60,219.37, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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