Nigeria’s inflation rate surprisingly eased to 21.34% in December 2022 despite the Christmas and New year festivities, dropping from 21.47% recorded in November.
This is according to the latest inflation report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Note that this is the first time Nigeria’s headline inflation rate dropped on a month-on-month basis in the last eleven months.
Compared to November 2022, the rate dropped by 0.12% points, representing a 5.72% points increase compared to 15.63% recorded in the corresponding period of last year.
Food inflation, a closely watched indices, fell to 23.75% in December 2022 from 24.13% recorded in the previous month. Meanwhile, compared to the corresponding period of 2021, the rate increased by 6.38% points from 17.37%.
- According to the NBS, the rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, and other food Products.
- The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending December 2022 over the previous twelve-month average was 20.94%, which is 0.53% points higher than the average annual rate of change recorded in December 2021 (20.40%).
Core inflation: On the other hand, the “All items less farm produce’’ index or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce, stood at 18.49% in December 2022. This is 24.8 basis points higher when compared to the 18.24% recorded in November 2022.
- On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was 1.33% in December 2022. It stood at 1.67% in November 2022, down by 0.34%.
- The highest increases were recorded in prices of gas, liquid fuel, Passenger transport by Air, vehicle spare parts, fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment, and solid fuel.
- The average twelve-month annual inflation rate was 16.08% for the twelve-months ending December 2022; this was 2.91% points higher than the 13.16% recorded in December 2021.
Urban inflation in the review period stood at 22.01%, representing a 5.85% points increased compared to 16.17% recorded in the corresponding period of 2021 and slightly lower than the 22.09% recorded in the previous month.
In the same vein, the rural inflation rate in December 2022 was 20.72% on a year-on-year basis; this is 5.61% higher compared to the 15.11% recorded in December 2021, and lower than 20.88% recorded in November 2022.
Inflation by state: In December 2022, the headline inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Bauchi (23.79%), Kogi (23.35%), Anambra (23.13%), while Taraba (18.98%), Osun (19.09%), and Kwara (19.18%) recorded the slowest rise in headline year-on-year inflation.
- On a month-on-month basis, however, December 2022 recorded the highest increases in Oyo (3.48%), Abuja (3.05%), Sokoto (2.58%), while Ebonyi (0.11%), Ekiti (0.68%) and Nasarawa (0.70%) recorded the slowest rise on month-on-month inflation.
- In terms of food inflation, Kwara State recorded the highest rate with 27.9% followed by Imo (26.94%) and Ebonyi (26.28%), while Sokoto (20.90%), Taraba (21.59%) and Cross River (21.71%) recorded the slowest rise in year-on-year food inflation.
- On a month-on-month basis, December 2022 food inflation was highest in Sokoto (3.38%), Oyo (3.10%) and Kaduna (2.97%), while Nasarawa (0.06%), Osun (0.70%) and Kogi (0.76%) recorded the slowest rise on month-on-month inflation.
