Nigeria’s inflation dipped in December to 21.34 per cent from 21.47 per cent in November after 10 straight monthly increases, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.
The NBS report stated that food inflation dropped to 23.75 per cent in December from 24.13 per cent a month earlier, amid skyrocketed prices of staples.
The NBS had attributed rising inflation to a sharp increase in demand ahead of the holiday season amid the rising cost of production.
“The increases were recorded in all … divisions that yielded the headline index most especially in food & non-alcoholic beverages, transport and miscellaneous goods & services,” the NBS said in its report.
The drop in the inflation rate comes as the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee prepares to meet for the first time this year.
At the meeting, scheduled for next week, the MPC as part of efforts to tame inflation would decide on interest rates in Africa’s largest economy.
Other Details
In terms of trend, the NBS noted that the December 2022 inflation rate showed a decline of 0.13 per cent when compared to November 2022 inflation rate.
“However, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 5.72% points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2021, which was (15.63%),” it said.
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“This shows that the headline inflation rate increased in the month of December 2022 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., December 2021).”
On a month-on-month basis, the percentage change in the All Items Index in December 2022 was 1.71 per cent, which was 0.32 per cent higher than the rate recorded in November 2022 (1.39 per cent).
This means that in the month of December 2022, the general price level was 0.32 per cent higher relative to November 2022.
Similarly, urban inflation stood at 22.01 per cent while rural inflation was 20.72 per cent, the NBS said.
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