By Milcah Tanimu
Nigeria’s inflation rate has reached a historic pinnacle, surging to 24.08% in July 2023 from the previous month’s 22.79%, marking a significant 1.29% increase, as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Comparatively, on a year-on-year basis, the inflation rate witnessed a stark rise of 4.44 percentage points when juxtaposed with July 2022’s rate of 19.64%, according to the latest data released by the NBS.
This surge in the headline inflation index for July 2023 is attributed to escalated contributions from specific items within the basket of goods and services, particularly within various divisions.
Notably, the notable contributors to this rise included food and non-alcoholic beverages, which escalated by 12.47%, and housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels, increasing by 4.03%. Nigeria’s decision to remove gasoline subsidies in May of this year led to a chain reaction of soaring petroleum product prices, subsequently impacting the costs of other commodities.
The upward trajectory of overall inflation was also evident in the sectors of clothing and footwear (1.84%), transport (1.57%), furnishings, household equipment, and maintenance (1.21%), education (0.95%), and health (0.72%).
Breaking down the data further, the food component sub-index for July 2023 witnessed a staggering year-on-year increase of 26.98%. This notable surge was 4.97% higher compared to June 2022’s rate of 22.02%.
This surge in food inflation on an annual basis was primarily fueled by the heightened prices of oil, fats, bread, cereals, fish, potatoes, yams, fruits, meat, vegetables, milk, cheese, and eggs.
In a parallel trend, the month-on-month food inflation rate for July 2023 ascended to 3.45%, indicating a 1.06% increase from June 2023’s rate of 2.40%.
