Kogi, Lagos, Bayelsa top list of states not buy food from as Inflation Hits 24.8 per cent

Nigeria’s headline inflation hit 24.08% for June 2023 in the recently released data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The NBS report said that the increase represents 1.29% points from the June 2023 inflation report.

Per the report, the inflation for July 2023 is due to increased contributions of some items in the basket of goods and services at the regional levels.

Items hardest hit by inflation

Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages - 12.47%

Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuel -4.03%

Clothing & Footwear-1.84%

Transport- 1.57%

Furnishings & Household Equipment & Maintenance -1.21%

Education - 0.95% Health - 0.72%

Restaurants & Hotels -0.29%

Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco & Kola - 0.26%

Recreation & Culture - 0.17% and

Communication -0.16%

Food inflation rose to 26.98%

According to the report, the food sub-index spiked by 26.98% yearly, representing 4.97% points higher than the rate recorded in June last year at 22.02%.

Daily Trust reports that an increase in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, potatoes, yam, and other tubers caused the yearly increase in the food index.

Others are fruits, meat, vegetable, milk, cheese, and eggs.

Farmer lament high cost of transportation

Also, the food inflation rate monthly in July 2023 increased to 3.45%, representing 1.06% points higher than the rate recorded in June 2023 at 2.40%, the report stated. Inflation on farm produce stood at 20.47% in July 2023 yearly.

Farmers said that the increase was driven by passenger transport by air, road, vehicle spare parts, medical services, maintenance, and repair of personal transport items.

Nigerian states with the highest food inflation

On a state level, the report shows that Kogi recorded the highest increases in food inflation at 34.53%, Lagos at 32.52%, and Bayelsa at 31.31%.

Others are Jigawa at 20.90%, Sokoto at 21.63%, and Kebbi at 22.45%.

Kogi, Akwa Ibom, and Bayelsa recorded the highest inflation in July, while Taraba, Jigawa, and Yobe states recorded the slowest food inflation monthly.

Analyst wants the government to invest in food subsidy

Justine Chukwuka, an economist and banker, said that food inflation is caused by the removal of subsidies from petrol which drove the cost of transportation to the roof.

“The arrowhead of every inflation report in Nigeria has always been food inflation. Food inflation is an area the government needs to pay attention to. “If you removed subsidy from petrol, you should invest it elsewhere and, in this case, in food subsidy.”