Inflation now hovers around 22%, up 2 consecutive months
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Headline inflation rate rose to 21.91 per cent in February, up 0.09 percentage points from 21.82 per cent in January, according to the latest figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which show a second straight month of rises.
The NBS disclosed in its Consumers Price Index (CPI) report for February food inflation index also jumped to 24.35 per cent from 24.32 per cent in January due to increase in the prices of certain food items.
“In February 2023,” the report said, “the headline inflation rate rose to 21.91 percent compared to January 2023 head line inflation rate which was 21.82 percent.
“Looking at the trend, the February 2023 inflation rate showed an increase of 0.09 percentage points when compared to January 2023 headline inflation rate.
“Similarly, on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.21 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in February 2022, which was 15.7 percent.
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (YoY basis) increased in February 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., February 2022).
“The contributions of items on a class basis to the increase in the headline index are presented, thus: bread and cereal (21.67 per cent), actual and imputed rent (7.74 percent), potatoes, yam and Other tubers (6.06 percent), vegetable. (5.44 percent) and meat (4.78 percent).”
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Change in All-Items Index
“On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the percentage change in the All-Items Index in February 2023 was 1.71 percent, which was 0.16 percentage points lower than the rate recorded in January 2023 (1.87 percent),” the NBS added, per Vanguard.
“This means that in February 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.16 percent lower relative to January 2023.
“The increases were recorded in all COICOP divisions that yielded the headline index.
“The food inflation rate in February 2023 was 24.35 percent on YoY basis; which was 7.24 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in February 2022 (17.1 percent).
“The rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruits, meat, vegetable, and food products.
“On MoM basis, the food inflation rate in February 2023 was 1.9 percent, which was 0.18% points lower compared to the rate recorded in January 2023 (2.08 percent).”
