By Bassey Udo
Nigeria’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the rate of inflation in the country’s economy, maintained the spiraling trend in November 2022, as it was up for the 10th consecutive month, from 15.60 per cent last January to 21.47 percent.
The latest figure, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data published in its current CPI report, rose from 21.09 percent in October, amid growing concerns over rising prices of goods and services, including food, transport, petrol, and electricity supplies.
The NBS said the November 2022 figure was higher than about 15.40 percent recorded in the corresponding period in 2021 by about 6.07 percent points, in terms of the general price level in the economy.
On a month-on-month basis, the NBS said the headline inflation rate for the month rose by 1.39 percent from the general price level in October 2022.
The statistics agency reported that the rise in price levels affected all 12 Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP) functions and item levels used in calculating the inflation index.
The agency attributed the increase in the monthly inflation rate to a sharp demand for goods and services by the people associated with plans toward the festivities during Christmas and the New year.
Also, the NBS said the increase in the year-on-year inflation figure could be blamed on the rising cost of importation of goods and services as a result of the persisting problem of depreciation in the value of the Naira against foreign exchange as well as the general increase in the cost of production due to rising cost of electricity, diesel, and petrol used by businesses.
The NBS said the dichotomy between urban and rural inflation, which depicts the cost living for those living in the cities and the rural dwellers, worsened during the month.
On a year-on-year basis, the report said the urban inflation rate in November 2022 was higher by 6.17 percent (22.09 percent) compared to about 15.92 percent recorded in November 2021, while month-on-month figures showed urban inflation rate was 1.50 percent in November 2022, about 0.16 percent higher compared to 1.33 percent in October 2022.
The corresponding 12-month average for the urban inflation rate stood at about 18.90% percent in November 2022, higher than 17.55 percent, or 1.35 percent reported in November 2021.
Rural inflation rate, on the other hand, showed that November 2022 recorded 20.88 percent on a year-on-year basis, about 5.99 percent higher than 14.89 percent recorded in November 2021.
On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in November 2022 was 1.30 percent, up by 0.14 percent compared to October 2022 (1.16 percent), the NBS said.
The agency put the corresponding 12-month average for the rural inflation rate in November 2022 at about 17.88 percent, which was 1.46 percent higher than 16.42 percent reported in November 2021.
Although the NBS said food inflation rate during the month was about 24.13 percent on a year-on-year basis, about 6.92 percent higher than 17.21 percent in November 2021, it said Kwara, Kogi and Ebonyi recorded the highest rise at 29.74 percent, 29.51 percent and 28.25 percent respectively, while Kaduna, Sokoto, and Jigawa had the slowest inflation rate of 19.30 percent, 19.48 percent, and 20.55 percent respectively.
On a monthly basis, the NBS said Nasarawa, Delta, and Plateau recorded the highest food inflation rate of 2.87 percent, 2.66 percent, and 2.53 percent respectively, while the food inflation rate in Sokoto, Ogun, and Yobe was the slowest at -0.94 percent, -0.34 percent, and -0.10 percent respectively.
The general increase in food inflation rate during the month, the NBS said, was as a result of the hike in prices of some of the food items commonly consumed in most families, like bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam, and other tubers as well as general food products, including fish and meat.
On a month-on-month basis, with the food inflation rate in November at about 1.40 percent, the statistics bureau said this was about 0.17 percent higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022 (1.23%).
The agency blamed the hike on the increase in prices of some food items, like oil and fat, fruits, fish, and tubers, with the average annual rate of food inflation for the 12-month period ending November 2022 over the previous 12-month average at 20.41 percent, or 0.21 percent points lower from the 20.62 percent average annual rate of change recorded in November 2021.
The NBS said on a year-on-year basis, ‘’All items less farm produce’’ or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce, stood at 18.24 percent in November 2022, up by 4.39 percent, compared to 13.85 percent recorded in November 2021.
On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was up by 1.67 percent in November 2022, from 0.93 percent in October 2022, up by 0.74 percent, with the highest increases reported in prices of gas, liquid fuel, passenger transport by air, vehicles spare parts, and solid fuels.
The average 12-month annual inflation rate of 15.69 percent for the 12-month period ending November 2022 was 2.73 percent points higher than the 12.96 percent recorded in November 2021.
