Inflation Hits 19.64% in July as Food Prices, Others Keep Increasing

The incessant rise in the prices of goods and services in Nigeria has worsened to indicate a higher cost of living amidst deteriorating consumer purchasing power.

The Consumer Purchasing Index (CPI) report for July 2020 just released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows put inflation at 19.64% in the month, indicating a year-on-year and month-on-month increase of 2.27% and 1.82% respectively.

While July 2021 inflation stood at 17.38%, that of June 2022, when it hit a five-year high, was 18.6%. However, the inflation has further jacked up in July.

The 23-page report sighted by Business Metrics indicated that inflation did not get any better when compared with the previous month of June, 2022.

On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in July 2022 was 1.817 %, which was 0.001% higher than the rate recorded in June 2022 (1.816 %).

The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending July 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 16.75%, showing a 0.46% increase compared to 16.30% recorded in July 2021.

Urban Inflation

On a year-on-year basis, in July 2022, the urban inflation rate was 20.09%, this was 2.08% higher compared to the 18.01% recorded in July 2021.

On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 1.82% in July 2022, this was a 0.0002% decline compared to June 2022 (1.82%).

The corresponding twelve-month average for the urban inflation rate was 17.29 % in July 2022. This was 0.40% higher compared to 16.89% reported in July 2021.

Food Inflation

Meanwhile, increasing rise in the prices of food items contributed to the spiking inflation in July as it increased to 22.02 % on a year-on-year basis; which was 0.99% higher compared to the rate recorded in July 2021 (21.03%).

This rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Food products such as potatoes, yam and other tubers, meat, fish, oil, and fat.

On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in July was 2.04%, which was a 0.01% insignificant decline compared to the rate recorded in June 2022 (2.05%).

This decline is attributed to a reduction in the prices of some food items like Tubers, Maize, Garri, and Vegetables.

Meanwhile, the average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending July 2022 over the previous twelve-month average was 18.75%, which was a 1.42% decline from the average annual rate of change recorded in July 2021 (20.16%).