The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) via a report on Monday announced that Nigeria’s inflation rate hit a 17-year high on the back of soaring food prices and supply chain disruption in September.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the NBS showed that inflation rose by 20.8% in September, the highest rate since 2005, up from 20.52% recorded in the previous month.
On a month-on-month basis, the index rose by 1.36% compared to the 1.77% increase recorded in the previous month, the report revealed.
According to the NBA report, urban inflation stood at 21.25% in September 2022 from 17.19% recorded in the corresponding period of 2021, while rural inflation stood at 20.32%.
The food inflation rate stood at 23.34% on a year-on-year basis, recording a surge from the 23.12% recorded in the previous month.
The NBS said increase in the food index was related to increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products, potatoes, yams, and other tubers, oil, and fat.
The ‘’All items less farm produce’’ or core inflation, including the prices of volatile agricultural produce, stood at 17.60%, up from 17.2% recorded in August 2022.
The bureau said the highest increases were recorded in prices of gas, liquid fuel, passenger transport by air, passenger travel by road, and solid fuel.
The NBS explained that rising inflation rate was caused by soaring food prices, disruption in food supply chain, rise in import cost due to the currency depreciation, and increase in the cost of production.
