Inflation rate cruises on high energy prices
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Inflation rate cruised to 15.92 per cent in March, the highest in five months counting from October 2021, stoked by rising costs of petrol, diesel, kerosene as well as other commodities plus high transport fares that spill over to other goods and services.
The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that inflation rose 0.22 percentage points month-on-month (MoM) in March above 15.7 per cent in February.
CPI measures the rate of inflation.
The headline index jumped 1.74 per cent in March against 1.63 per cent increase in February.
Urban Inflation rate increased to 16.44 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in March 2022 but it was a decline of 2.32 per cent points from 18.76 per cent in March 2021.
Rural Inflation rose to 15.42 per cent in March 2022 but it was also a decline of 2.18 percentage points versus 17.60 per cent in March 2021.
Food inflation
Food inflation notched up to 17.2 per cent in March, an uptick compared with 17.11 per cent in February.
The NBS explained that rise in the food index was caused by increases in the prices of Bread and cereals, Food products, Potatoes, yam and other tubers, Fish, Meat, Oils and fats.
The food sub-index rose to 1.99 per cent MoM in March, up 0.12 per cent points from 1.87 per cent points in February.
The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the 12 months to March 2022 over the previous 12 months’ average was 19.21 per cent, a 0.48 per cent points decrease from19.69 per cent average annual rate of change in February.
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Core inflation
Core inflation rate slashed to 13.91 per cent in March from 14.01 per cent in February, caused by the increase in the prices of Gas, Garments, Cleaning, Repair and hire of clothing, Shoes and other footwear, per Nairametrics, quoting the NBS.
Other items with significant price rises included
- Clothing materials
- Other articles of clothing and clothing accessories
- Liquid fuel
- Fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment
- Other services in respect of personal transport equipment
Three states with highest inflation rate YoY in March
- Cross River – 18.42 per cent
- Kogi – 18.18 per cent
- Gombe – 18.09 per cent
Three states with lowest inflation rate YoY
- Ogun – 14.22 per cent
- Osun – 14.14 per cent
- Kwara – 14.03 per cent
Three states with highest food inflation rate YoY
- Kogi – 22.21 per cent
- Cross River – 19.86 per cent
- Kwara – 19.53 per cent
Three states with lowest food inflation rate YoY
- Rivers – 14.81 per cent
- Kaduna – 14.66 per cent
- Sokoto – 14.04 per cent
