Nigeria’s Inflation Rate Hits 21.82 percent Amid Naira Redesign

Nigeria’s inflation rate accelerated to 21.82 percent in January 2023 from 21.34 percent that was recorded in December, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) made this known.

This is amid a redesign of the naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

This is a new 17-year high after inflation fell for the first time in December 2022. Prior to December, Nigeria’s inflation rate had been rising consistently for 11 months.

In 2022, the NBS listed disruption in the supply of food products, increases in import cost due to the naira’s depreciation, and a general increase in the cost of production as the cause of the rise in inflation.

In its ‘Consumer Price Index’ for January 2023, the national statistics body said, “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 15.60 percent.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in the month of January 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., January 2022).”