…in 18 years
…24.08% in July, says NBS
…Food inflation increases by 4.97% to 26.98%
…Oil,bread,tubers, fish,meat,others sorely affected
By Motolani Oseni
Another measure of the nation’s economic health and that of majority of the citizenry- came yesterday as the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed that Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 24.08 per cent in July, 2023.
It is the highest the country has experienced in 18 years (2005) when the inflation rate reached 24.30 per cent.
Ordinary Nigerians,workers and other groups badly impacted by the dire socio-economic consequences of President Bola Tinubu’s May 2023 removal of fuel subsidy have been strident in their condemnation of the action.
Labour has been vociferous in attacking what it called government’s anti-poor,anti-people economic policies arising largely from the subsidy removal,for which it lamented that no palliative measure has so far been put in place to mitigate the suffering of majority of Nigerians.
Riding on the crest of popular outcries over the economic policies, including huge additional taxes in a country with official figures of 133 million persons who are multi-dimensionally poor, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) called out workers and ordinary Nigerians to a nationwide protest on August 2 this year.
The industrial action,which recorded massive success,resulted in a shutdown of the nation’s economy.
It took the personal intervention of President Tinubu same day for Labour to suspend the protest. Among other concessions in talks that followed, President Tinubu promised to get the Port Harcourt refineries operating by December this year to obviate the over-reliance on imported finished petroleum products on which Nigerians were forced to pay at international rates.
NBS stated, yesterday, that the current inflation figure represents about 1.29 per cent increase from 22.79 per cent reported in June 2023.
Food inflation rate increased by 4.97 per cent in July 2023 to 26.98 per cent on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis.
According to NBS, on a year-on-year basis, inflation rate was 4.44 per cent points higher compared to 19.64 per cent recorded in July 2022.
The report stated that, on a month-on-month (M-o-M) basis, the headline inflation rate in July 2023 was 2.89 per cent, which was 0.76 per cent higher than the rate recorded in June 2023 (2.13 per cent).
This means that in July 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.76 per cent higher relative to June 2023.
“The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve-month period ending July 2023 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve-month period was 21.92 per cent, showing a 5.17 per cent increase compared to 16.75 per cent recorded in July 2022,” NBS said.
CPI is consumer price index. It measures the average change overtime in prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services.
On urban inflation, the NBS report stated: “On a year-on-year basis, in July 2023, the urban inflation rate was 25.83 per cent; this was 5.74 per cent points higher compared to the 20.09 per cent recorded in July 2022.
“On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 3.05 per cent in July 2023; this was 0.75 per cent points higher compared to June 2023 (2.31 per cent).
“The corresponding twelve-month average for the urban inflation rate was 22.87 per cent in July 2023. This was 5.59 per cent points higher compared to the 17.29 per cent reported in July 2022.”
The report put rural inflation rate in July 2023 at 22.49 per cent on a Y-o-Y basis, pointing out that this was 3.26 per cent higher compared to the 19.22 per cent recorded in July 2022.
“On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in July 2023 was 2.74 per cent, up by 0.78 per cent points compared to June 2023 (1.96 per cent). The corresponding twelve-month average for the rural inflation rate in July 2023 was 21.04 per cent. This was 4.79 per cent higher compared to the 16.25 per cent recorded in July 2022,” the report disclosed.
The NBS added: “The food inflation rate in July 2023 was 26.98 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 4.97 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in July 2022 (22.02 per cent). The rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, fish, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fruits, meat, vegetable, milk, cheese, and eggs.
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“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in July 2023 was 3.45 per cent; this was 1.06 per cent higher compared to the rate recorded in June 2023 (2.40 per cent). The rise in food inflation on a month-on-month basis was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, oil, and fat.
“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve-month period ending July 2023 over the previous twelve-month average was 24.46 per cent, which was a 5.71 per cent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in July 2022 (18.75%).”
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