By Elizabeth Adegbesan

After a brief cool off in December, Nigeria’s inflation pressure has re-surged with January figure rising 0.47 percentage  point to 21.82 percent from 21.34 percent in December 2022.

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS,    disclosed this yesterday in its Consumer Price Index, CPI, report for January 2023 saying that food inflation index also increased to 24.32 percent in January 2023 from 21.34 percent in December 2022 due to increase in the prices of some food items.

Nigeria’s inflation rate eased to 21.34 percent in December 2022 from  21.47 percent  in November 2022, first drop in about 11 months.

The Bureau stated: “In January 2023, the headline inflation rate rose to 21.82 percent compared to December 2022  headline inflation rate which was 21.34 percent.  

“Looking at the trend, the January 2023 inflation rate  showed an increase of 0.47 percent points when compared to December 2022 inflation rate.

“However, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.22 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in January 2022, which was 15.6 percent.

“The contributions of items on a class basis to the increase in the headline index are: Bread  and Cereal (21.67 percent), Actual and Imputed Rent (7.74 percent), Potatoes, Yam and Tuber (6.06 percent),  Vegetable (5.44 percent), and Meat (4.78 percent).

“On a month-on-month basis, the percentage change in the All-Items Index in January 2023  was 1.87 percent, which was 0.15 percent points higher than the rate recorded in December 2022 (1.71 percent).  

On food inflation, the Bureau said: “The food inflation rate in January 2023 was 24.32 percent on a year-on-year basis; which was  7.19 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in January 2022 (17.13 percent).

“The rise in  food inflation was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, vegetable, fruits, meat, and food products e.t.c.

“ On a  month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in January 2023 was 2.08 percent, 0.20 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022 (1.89 percent). “