Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 21.91% in February 2023, compared to January 2023’s rate of 21.82%.
This information was disclosed on the national bureau of Statistics’ official website.
The February 2023 inflation rate showed an increase of 0.09% points when compared to the January 2023 headline inflation rate. Similarly, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.21% points higher compared to the rate recorded in February 2022, which was 15.70%. This shows that the headline inflation rate (on a year-on-year basis) increased in February 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year of February 2022.
According to the NBS, the main contributors to this rise were bread and cereal at 21.67%, actual and imputed rent at 7:74%, potatoes, yams, and other tubers at 6:06%, vegetables at 5:44%, and meat at 4:78%. On a month-on-month basis, the percentage change in the All-Items Index in February 2023 was 1.71%, which was 0.16% points lower than the rate recorded in January 2023 at 1.87%.
This indicates an overall upward trend for prices across all categories, which could have serious implications for consumers who are already struggling due to the cash crunch. Rising food prices can be particularly damaging as they make up such an important part of people’s budgets, so it is likely that these increases will cause further hardship for those on low incomes or living precariously.
