The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Monday that Nigeria’s food inflation rose to 18.37 percent in April, owing to increases in the prices of staple foods across the country.
According to the NBS’s inflation report, the food inflation rate increased from 17.2 percent in March due to price increases in bread and cereals, food products, potatoes, yam, wine, fish, meat, energy, and oils.
The food sub-index increased by 0.01 percentage point month on month to 2% in April 2022, up from 1.99 percent in March 2022.
Furthermore, the average annual rate of change of the Food sub-index for the twelve-month period ending April 2022 over the previous 12-month period is 18.88%, a 0.34 percent point increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in March 2022. (19.21 per cent).
According to the report, “All items less farm produce” or Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural produce prices, stood at 14.18 percent in April 2022, up 1.44 percent from 12.74 percent in April 2021.”
On a month-to-month basis, the core sub-index increased to 1.22 percent in April 2022, up 0.24 percent from 0.98 percent in March 2022.
According to the NBS, the highest price increases were seen in gas, liquid fuel, cleaning, repair, and hire of clothing, clothing materials, other articles of clothing, and clothing accessories.
According to the NBS, food inflation was highest in Kogi (22.79 percent), Kwara (21.56 percent), and Ebonyi (21.56 percent) in April 2022. (21.45 percent ).
However, Sokoto (14.85 percent), Kaduna (15.55 percent), and Anambra (16.68 percent) experienced the slowest year-on-year increase in food inflation.
Ekiti (4.03 percent), Taraba (3.68 percent), and Osun (3.04 percent) had the highest month-on-month food inflation in March 2022, while Anambra (0.66 percent), Kogi (1.01 percent), and Bauchi (1.08 percent) had the slowest.
