In the latest Consumer Price Index report for August 2023 released by the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s inflation rate has surged to 25.80%.
This marks a significant increase of 1.72% points compared to the previous month’s rate of 24.08%.
The report highlights that this substantial rise is a direct consequence of the removal of petrol subsidy and the devaluation of the official exchange rate, both of which have had a pronounced impact on consumer prices.
Month-on-month inflation also experienced an uptick, reaching 3.18% in the review month, up from the 2.89% recorded in the preceding month.
Analyzing the contributions to the year-on-year inflation rate, it is evident that Food and non-alcoholic beverages (13.36%) had the most substantial impact, followed by housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel (4.32%), and clothing and footwear (1.97%).
Breaking down the inflation rates by location, the Urban inflation rate for August 2023 stood at 27.69%. This represents a notable 6.73% point increase compared to the 20.95% recorded in August 2022.
In parallel, the Rural inflation rate reached 24.10%, reflecting a 3.98% point surge from the 20.12% recorded in August 2022.
Meanwhile, food inflation escalated to 29.34% in August 2023, signifying a 2.35% point rise from the previous month’s 26.98% and a substantial 6.22% point increase from the corresponding period in 2022.
On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate for August 2023 reached 3.87%, up by 0.41% points compared to the rate in July 2023 (3.45%). The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending in August 2023 was 25.01%, marking a substantial 5.99% point increase from the average annual rate recorded in August 2022 (19.02%).
Regionally, in the month under review, Kogi (31.50%), Lagos (29.17%), and Rivers (29.06%) reported the highest all items inflation rates on a year-on-year basis, while Sokoto (20.91%), Borno (21.77%), and Nasarawa (22.25%) recorded the slowest rise in headline inflation over the same period.
For food inflation on a year-on-year basis, Kogi (38.84%), Lagos (36.04%), and Kwara (35.33%) posted the highest rates, whereas Sokoto (20.09%), Nasarawa (24.35%), and Jigawa (24.53%) had the slowest increase in food inflation over the same timeframe.