Nigeria's inflation hits 20.25%, highest in 17 years – Newstrends
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Nigeria’s inflation hits 20.25%, highest in 17 years

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Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 20.52% in August, the highest since September 2005, the latest report has revealed.

The inflation figure rose from 19.64% recorded in July, according to details of the inflation figures published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday.

The Consumer Price Index report by the NBS showed that Nigeria’s CPI rose by 1.77% on a month-on-month basis, compared to the 1.82% increase recorded in the previous month.

The new inflation rate raises concerns in Africa’s biggest economy, placing pressure on the apex bank to increase interest rates.

The NBS said Thursday that the urban inflation rate stood at 20.95%, which is 3.36% higher compared to the 17.59 % recorded in August 2021.

The rural inflation rate in August 2022 was 20.12% on a year-on-year basis, 3.69% higher compared to the 16.43% recorded in August 2021.

The report added that food inflation rose to 23.12 per cent in August 2022 on a year-on-year basis, representing a 2.82 per cent increase when compared to 20.30 per cent in August 2021.

“This rise in the food inflation was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products like potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, meat, oil and fat,” the report said.

“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in August was 1.98 per cent, this was a 0.07 per cent decline compared to the rate recorded in July 2022 (2.04 per cent).

This decline, it said, was attributed to the reduction in prices of some food items such as tubers, garri, local rice and vegetables.

The report showed increases were recorded in all classifications of individual consumption according to purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.

The report read, “On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August 2022 was 1.77 per cent, this was 0.05 per cent lower than the rate recorded in July 2022 (1.82 per cent). This means that in August 2022 the headline inflation rate (month–on–month basis) declined by 0.05 per cent.

“The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending August 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 17.07 per cent, showing a 0.47 per cent increase compared to 16.60 per cent recorded in August 2021.”

States

In August, the report said food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kwara (30.80 per cent), Ebonyi (28.06 per cent) and Rivers (27.64 per cent).

However, Jigawa (17.77 per cent), Zamfara (18.79 per cent) and Oyo (19.80 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in food

 

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CBN raises commercial banks’ capital base to N500bn

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CBN raises commercial banks’ capital base to N500bn

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased the minimum capital requirements for commercial, merchant and non-interest banks.

The CBN increased the capital base for commercial banks with international licences to N500 billion, while national and regional financial institutions’ capital bases were fixed at N200 billion and N50 billion, respectively.

This was announced in a statement on Thursday, noting that the increase was due to prevailing macroeconomic challenges and headwinds.

The statement signed by Haruna Mustafa, director, financial policy and regulation department at the CBN.

It said the upward review would enhance the banks’ resilience, solvency and capacity to continue to support the growth of the Nigerian economy.

Also, the CBN raised the merchant bank minimum capital requirement to N50 billion for national licence holders.

The financial regulator said the capital base for national and regional non-interest banks is N20 billion and N10 billion, respectively.

To meet the minimum capital requirements, the CBN advised banks to consider the injection of “fresh equity capital through private placements, rights issue and/or offer for subscription”.

The CBN also suggested merger and acquisition (M&A), as well as upgrade or downgrade of licences.

“The minimum capital specified above shall comprise paid-up capital and share premium only. For the avoidance of doubt, the new capital requirement shall not be based on shareholders’ funds,” it stated

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Tinubu orders creation of single-digit tax system

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Tinubu orders creation of single-digit tax system

President Bola Tinubu has directed a creation of a single-digit tax system with a maximum of nine taxes for a company or an individual.

Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, disclosed this in Abuja while speaking with the management team of Guinness Nigeria who paid him a visit.

A statement on Wednesday by Dare Adekanmbi, Special Adviser on Media to the FIRS chairman, quoted Adedeji as saying, “The President gave a directive that he wants a single-digit tax in the country, meaning that the maximum number of taxes we will have after the work of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms will be nine taxes.”

The statement added that the plan was aimed at having a conducive environment “created for businesses to flourish and grow the economy.”

 

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Naira gains further against dollar

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Naira gains further against dollar

The Naira rose further in the official market on Tuesday, trading at N1,382.95 to the dollar.

According to data from the FMDQ’s official trading portal, the Naira rose by N25.09, or 1.78 percent, from the previous day’s rate of N1,408 versus the dollar.

On Tuesday, total turnover was $245.58 million, up from $222.15 million on Monday.

Meanwhile, at the Investor’s and Exporters (I&E) window, the Naira traded between N1,486 and N1,300 against the dollar.

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had, earlier on Tuesday at its 294th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), raised Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 200 basis points from 22.75 per cent to 24.75 per cent.

CBN governor Yemi Cardoso said that was meant to tackle the nation’s rising inflation.

Naira gains further against dollar

(NAN)

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