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| Vehicles queued up at a fuel station in Lagos along the Ibadan express way. |
The Consumer Price Index rose to 15.7 per cent in February from 15.6 per cent in January, latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics have revealed.
The NBS disclosed this in its ‘Consumer Price Index February 2022’ report on Tuesday.
According to the NBS, the highest increases were recorded in prices of gas, liquid fuel, wine, tobacco, spirit, narcotics, solid fuels, among others.
It said, “In February 2022, the CPI which measures inflation increased to 15.70 per cent on year-on-year basis. This is 1.63 per cent points lower compared to the rate recorded in February 2021 (17.33) per cent. This means that the headline inflation rate slowed down in February when compared to the same month in the previous year.
“Increases were recorded in all classification of individual consumption by purpose divisions that yielded the headline index. On month-on-month basis, the headline index increased to 1.63 per cent in February 2022, this is 0.16 per cent rate higher than the rate recorded in January 2022 (1.47) per cent.”
According to the NBS report, the percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12 months period ending February 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12 months period was 16.73 per cent, showing 0.14 per cent point from 16.87 per cent recorded in January 2022.
The urban inflation rate increased to 16.25 per cent (year-on-year) in February 2022 from 17.92 per cent recorded in February 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased to 15.18 per cent in February 2022 from 16.77 per cent in February 2021.
The Statistician-General of the Federation, Simon Harry, Harry said, “For the month of February 2022, the consumer price index increased by 15.70 per cent (year-on-year). This was 1.63 per cent points lower compared to the rate recorded in February 2021 (17.33) per cent.
The increase in the inflation rate further threatened the 13 per cent inflation target for 2022 of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The Federal Government projects an inflation rate of 13 per cent in its key projections and assumptions for the 2022 budget.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, had disclosed this during her presentation of this year’s approved budget recently.
She had said, “Inflation is projected to be double-digit in the medium-term given structural issues impacting the cost of doing business, including high food distribution cost. However, the current steady decline is expected to be sustained, seeing the inflation rate drop to 13 per cent in 2022 and 10 per cent by 2024.”
Also, the country still struggles with double-digit inflation, with the World Bank projecting that Nigeria might have one of the highest inflation rates globally in 2022, with increasing prices diminishing the welfare of Nigerian households.
According to the bank in its Nigeria Development Update report, Nigeria may have the seventh-highest inflation rate among sub-Saharan African countries in 2022.