THUR, JUNE 15 2023-theGBJournal |Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose sharply to 22.41% in May 2023, an increase of 0.19% points when compared to April 2023 headline inflation rate, according to latest inflation data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Consumer prices rose by 4.70% points in annual terms in May, higher compared to the rate recorded in May 2022, which was 17.71%.
Food prices maintain their uptrend rising by 5.33% to 24.82% y/y in May 2023 compared to 2022 April (19.50%), attributed to increases in prices of Oil and fat, Yam and other tubers, Bread and cereals, Fish, Potatoes, Fruits, Meat, Vegetable, Spirit.
Note that the month of May marks the start of the planting season in the northern parts of the country, running concurrently with the off-season harvest of April to June.
However, planting season started in April in the southern region and continues into May. Given the preceding, we expect the food demand-supply gap to remain wide, supporting high food prices in near term.
Meanwhile, Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 20.06% in May 2023 on a year-on-year basis; up by 5.16% when compared to the 14.90% recorded in May 2022.
The highest increases were recorded in prices of Gas, Passenger transport by Air, Liquid fuel, Vehicles spare parts, Fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment, medical services, Passenger transport by road etc.
On a month-on-month basis, the Core inflation rate was 1.81% in May 2023. It stood at 1.46% in April 2023, up by 0.35%. The average twelve-months annual inflation rate was 18.33% for the twelve-months ending May 2023; this was 4.50% points higher than the 13.83% recorded in May 2022.
In May 2023, all items inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was highest in Ondo (25.84%), Kogi (25.70%), Rivers (25.02%), while Taraba (19.55%), Sokoto (19.56%) and Plateau (19.89%) recorded the slowest rise in headline inflation on year-on-year basis.
On a month -on-month basis, however, May 2023 recorded the highest increases in Osun (3.05%), Ebonyi (3.02%), Kogi (2.81%), while Ogun (0.64%), Nasarawa (0.89%) and Imo (0.94%) recorded the slowest rise on month-on-month inflation.
Similarly, food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Ondo (30.26%), Kogi (29.83%) and Kwara (29.52%), while Sokoto (18.89%), Taraba (21.30%) and Kano (21.33%) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on year-on-year basis.
On a month-on-month basis, however, May 2023 Food inflation was highest in River (3.74%), Osun (3.44%) and Kogi (3.38%), while Sokoto (0.45%), Kano (0.61%) and Nasarawa (0.85%) recorded the
slowest rise in inflation on month-on-month basis.
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