The consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 25.80 per cent in August 2023.
The figure is 1.72 per cent points higher than 24.08 percent recorded in the previous month.
In its CPI report for August 2023, released on Friday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the country’s inflationary trend was driven by increases in food prices.
The report shows that month-on-month, inflation rose to 3.18 per cent in the review month from 2.89 per cent recorded in July.
In terms of contribution to the year-on-year inflation, food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed the highest figure of 13.36 per cent, followed by housing water, electricity, gas and other fuel which accounted for 4.32 per cent, and clothing and footwear 1.97 per cent.
On a year-on-year basis, in August 2023, the Urban inflation rate was 27.69 per cent, this was 6.73 per cent points higher compared to the 20.95 per cent recorded in August 2022. The Rural inflation rate stood at 24.10 per cent, representing a 3.98 per cent points increase compared to the 20.12 per cent recorded in August 2022.
The CPI showed that food inflation rate rose to 29.34 per cent in August 2023, representing a 2.35 per cent point increase from 26.98 per cent recorded in the previous month and 6.22 per cent points higher than 23.12 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2022.
On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in August 2023 was 3.87 per cent, this was 0.41 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in July 2023 (3.45 per cent).
The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending August 2023 over the previous twelve-month average was 25.01 per cent, which was a 5.99 per cent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in August 2022 (19.02 per cent).
The report further stated that the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of Oil and fat, Bread and cereals, Fish, Fruit, Meat, Vegetables and Potatoes, Yam and other Tubers, Vegetable, Milk, Cheese and Eggs.
The “All items less farm produce”, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce was 21.15 per cent in August 2023 on a year-on-year basis; up by 0.67 per cent when compared to the 20.47 per cent recorded in July 2023.
Core Inflation rate was 2.18 per cent in August 2023, up from 2.11 per cent in July 2023.
The average twelve-month annual inflation rate was 19.18 per cent for the twelve months ending August 2023; this was 4.38 per cent points higher than the 14.80 per cent recorded in August 2022.
The highest increases were recorded in prices of Passenger Transport by Air, Passenger Transport by Road, Medical Services, Vehicle Spare parts, Maintenance, and repair of personal transport equipment etc.
In August 2023, all items inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi (31.50%), Lagos (29.17%), and Rivers (29.06%), while Sokoto (20.91%), Borno (21.77%) and Nasarawa (22.25%) recorded the slowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis.
Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kogi (38.84%), Lagos (36.04%), and Kwara (35.33%), while Sokoto (20.09%), Nasarawa (24.35%) and Jigawa (24.53%) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis.
