According to the recently released Consumer Price Index report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s inflation rate climbed to 22.79% in June 2023, marking a 0.38% point increase compared to the previous month’s rate of 22.41%.
On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 4.19% points higher than the rate recorded in June 2022, which stood at 18.60%. This indicates that the headline inflation rate saw an increase in June 2023 compared to the same month the previous year.
The major contributor to the inflation rate at the divisional level was food and non-alcoholic beverages, accounting for 11.81%. It was followed by housing water, electricity, gas, and other fuels at 3.81%. Communication had the lowest contribution at 0.15%.
The rise in the inflation rate was primarily driven by the food index, with food inflation reaching 25.25% in June 2023, up from 24.82% recorded in May 2023. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation in June 2023 stood at 2.40%, a 0.21% point increase compared to May 2023 (2.19%).
The increase in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was attributed to higher prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, potatoes, yam, and other tubers, fruits, meat, vegetables, milk, cheese, and eggs.
Additionally, core inflation, which excludes volatile food prices, rose to 20.27% from 20.06% in the previous month. This increase in the core index can be attributed to the federal government’s removal of petrol subsidies, resulting in a price hike from an average of N185 per liter to N500 per liter.
On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate in June 2023 was 1.74%, slightly lower than the 1.81% recorded in May 2023.
The highest price increases were observed in passenger transport by air, gas, vehicle spare parts, liquid fuel, fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment, medical services, and passenger transport by road, among others.
