The Consumer Price Index report for August 2023, which was released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday, shows that Nigeria’s inflation rose to 25.80% in August 2023, which is 1.72% higher than the previous month’s rate of 24.08%.
According to the report, the significant increase reflects the impact of the removal of petrol subsidies and the devaluation of the official exchange rate on consumer prices.
Also, month-on-month inflation rose to 3.18% in the review month from 2.89% recorded in the prior month.
In terms of contribution to the year-on-year inflation, Food and non-alcoholic beverages (13.36%) contributed the most, followed by housing water, electricity, gas and other fuel (4.32%), and clothing and footwear (1.97%).
Urban inflation was 27.69% in August 2023 on an annual basis, which was 6.73% points more than the 20.95% reported in August 2022. The rural inflation rate was 24.10%, up 3.98% percentage points from the 20.12% figure from August 2022.
In contrast, the rate of food inflation increased sharply to 29.34% in August 2023, up 2.35% points from the previous month’s figure of 26.98% and 6.22% points from the figure of 23.12% for the same time in 2022.
Food inflation in August 2023 was 3.87%, which was 0.41% points higher than the rate reported in July 2023 (3.45%).
The average annual rate of change in food prices for the twelve months ending August 2023 was 25.01%, a 5.99% point increase over the average annual rate of change reported in August 2022 (19.02%).
Similarly, during the period being examined, the highest year-on-year inflation rates for all goods were seen in Kogi (31.50%), Lagos (29.17%), and Rivers (29.06%). Conversely, the slowest increase in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis was reported in Sokoto (20.91%), Borno (21.77%), and Nasarawa (22.25%).
The regions of Kogi, Lagos, and Kwara had the highest food inflation rates on a year-on-year basis, with percentages of 38.84%, 36.04%, and 35.33% respectively. Conversely, Sokoto, Nasarawa, and Jigawa observed the slowest increase in food inflation, with rates of 20.09%, 24.35%, and 24.53% respectively.
