Nigeria's inflation rate hits 21.09%, as food prices soar

Nigeria’s inflation rate rose from 20.77% in September 2022 to 21.09% in October 2022 amid soaring food prices, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

The Bureau also said that food Inflation was 23.72% in October 2022, from 23.34% in September 2022.

The NBS made this known in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for October 2022 released yesterday.

The CPI measures the rate of change in the prices of goods and services.

“On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate for October 2022 was 1.24 percent, this was 0.11 percent lower than the rate recorded in September 2022 (1.36 percent). This means that in October 2022 the general price level for the headline inflation rate (month–on–month basis) declined by 0.11 percent,” the report in part.

“The percentage change in the average CPI for the 12 months ending October 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 17.86 percent, showing a 0.91 percent increase compared to the 16.96 percent recorded in October 2021.”

The NBS blamed the rising inflate rate on importation cost, high energy cost, surging food prices amongst others.

“On a year-on-year basis, in October 2022, the urban inflation rate was 21.63 percent, 5.11 percent higher compared to the 16.52 percent recorded in October 2021. On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 1.33 percent in October 2022, this was a 0.12 percent decline compared to September 2022 (1.46 percent).