For the first time in eight months, Nigeria’s inflation rate increased to 15.63% in December 2021 compared to 15.40% it was in November 2020.
As seen in the consumer price index report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, January 17, 2022, Nigeria’s inflation rose in the period under review after eight months of consecutive decline.
“This is 0.13% points lower than the rate recorded in December 2020 (15.75%). This is showing a slowing down in the rate when compared to the corresponding period of 2020,” the report read partly.
But comparing the rate to the year-on-year performance in the previous months shows that the rate has increased.
Also, comparing the rate of price change between December and November (month-on-month), the data shows that the headline index rose by 1.82% in December 2021. The November figure was 1.08%.
The rise was in part driven by a continued surge in food inflation.
The NBS said food inflation, which is the composite food index, rose by 17.37% in December 2021, down by 2.19% points when compared to 19.56% in December 2020.
NBS said the food index was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products, meat, fish, potatoes, yam and other tubers, soft drinks, and fruits.
It added that on a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 2.19 per cent in December 2021, up by 1.12% points from 1.07% recorded in November 2021.
“The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve months ending December 2021 over the previous twelve-month average was 20.40%, 0.22% points lower from the average annual rate of change recorded in November 2021 20.62%,” it said.
