Nigeria’s inflation rate rose in September, 2022 increased to 20.77% on a year-on-year basis.
This is contained in the monthly Consumer price index (CPI) released for September by the Statistician-General, National Bureau of Statistics, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran on Monday.
CPI measures changes in the general price level of a basket of goods and services purchased by households for consumption purposes relative to a base period.
According to the report, the inflation rate of 20.77% recorded last month was 4.14% higher compared to the 16.63% recorded in September 2021.
This shows that the general price level for all items index rose by 4.14% in September 2022 when compared to the same month in the preceding year.
This is attributed to Interruption in the food supply chain, the influence of domestic currency depreciation on the cost of importation, and general increase in the cost of production.
On a month-on-month basis, inflation rate in September 2022 was 1.36%, this was 0.41% lower than the 1.77% recorded in the previous month (August 2022).
This implies that last month the general price level dropped by 0.41% compared to the relative price of goods and services in August 2022.
The report says the decline in the all-items index on a month-on-month basis, is due to the ongoing harvesting season.
By location, inflation was highest on a year-on-year basis in Kogi, Rivers and Benue, while Abuja, Borno and Adamawa had the lowest rise.
On month-on-month basis, prices of goods and services was highest in Jigawa, Yobe and Benue while Abuja, Sokoto and Adamawa recorded the slowest rise in inflation.
Food inflation
Food inflation increased by 23.34% on a year-on-year basis last month, which was 3.77% higher than the 19.57% recorded in September, 2021.
The report indicates that the rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers as well as oil and fat.
On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in September was 1.43%. This declined by 0.54% compared to the rate recorded in August, 2022 (1.98%).
The decline on a month-on-month basis was attributed to reduction in prices of some food items like tubers, palm oil, maize, beans, and vegetables.
By location food inflation on year-on-year basis was highest in Kwara, Kogi and Ebonyi and lowest in Kaduna, Jigawa and Sokoto.
On a month-on-month basis, in September, 2022, Enugu, Ogun and Oyo recorded the highest rise in food inflation while the slowest rise was recorded in Sokoto, Ondo and Niger.
Core inflation
The index for all items less farm produce (Core inflation), stood at 17.60% in September, 2022 on a year-on-year basis; the index rose by 3.86% when compared to 13.74% recorded in the same month in 2021.
On a month-on-month basis, the core sub-index was 1.59%, which was similar to the rate recorded in August 2022.
The highest increases were recorded in prices of gas, liquid fuel, passenger transport by air, solid fuel, and passenger travel by road.
Urban/ Rural inflation
The consumer price index for urban consumers rose by 4.06% on a year-on-year basis. This was 21.25 % higher compared to the 17.19% recorded in September last year.
While on a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate decreased to 1.46% in September 2022, this was a 0.34% lower than the figure reported in August 2022 (1.79%).
However, rural inflation rose in September 2022 to 20.32% on a year-on-year basis. This was 4.24% higher compared to the 16.08% recorded in September 2021.
On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in September 2022 was 1.27%, down by 0.48% compared to August 2022 (1.75%).
Writing by Annabel Nwachukwu