BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
Nigeria’s inflation rate increased to 17.71 percent on a year-on-year basis. This is 0.22 percent points lower compared to the rate recorded in May 2021, which is (17.93) percent.
It is the highest level of inflation recorded by Africa’s largest economy since June 2021. Notably, food inflation rose to its highest level in nine months, accelerating by 113bps to 19.50 percent y/y (April: 18.37 percent y/y). Pressure was most significant in the prices of Bread and cereals, Food products, Potatoes, yam and other tubers, wine, fish, meat, and oils. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation increased by 2.01 percent, relative to the 2.0 percent m/m recorded in the previous month.
On a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased to 2.01percent in May 2022, up by 0.01 percent from 2.00 percent recorded in April 2022.
The average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending May 2022 over the previous twelve-month average is 18.68 percent, 0.05 percent points decline from the average annual rate of change recorded in May 2021 (19.18) percent.
The figure published by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, showed that the headline inflation rate increased to 1.78 percent on a month-on-month basis in May 2022.
This is also 0.02 percent higher than the rate recorded in April 2022 (1.76) percent. The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending May 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period is 16.45 percent, showing a 0.95 percent increase compared to the 15.50 percent recorded in May 2021.
The urban inflation rate increased to 18.24 percent (year-on-year); this is a 0.27 percent decline compared to 18.51 percent recorded in May 2021. On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate rose to 1.81 percent in May 2022, this is a 0.03 percent increase compared to April 2022 (1.78).
The corresponding twelve-month average percentage change for the urban index is 17.00 percent in May 2022. This is 0.91 percent higher compared to 16.09 percent reported in May 2021.
The rural inflation rate increased to 17.21 percent in May 2022 (year-on-year) basis; this is a 0.15 percent decline compared to 17.36 recorded in May 2021. On a month-on-month basis, the rural index rose to 1.76 percent in May 2022, up by 0.02 percent from the rate recorded in April 2022 (1.74), while the corresponding twelve-month average percentage change for the rural inflation rate in May 2022 is 15.91 percent. This is 0.97 percent higher compared to 14.94 percent recorded in May 2021.
