Rising food prices push November inflation rate to 21.47%

The Nigerian inflation rate rose again, hitting 21.47 per cent in November 2022, up from 21.09 per cent in the previous month.

The National Bureau of Statistics said this on Thursday in its latest consumer price index (CPI) report.

According to the NBS, the food inflation rate in November was 6.92 per cent higher, compared to the November 2021 rate of 17.21 per cent.

It said the rise in food inflation was caused by the increase in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, food products and fish.

This means that in November 2022, the general price level was 6.07 per cent higher relative to November 2021.

It said, “On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in November 2022 was 1.39 per cent, this was 0.15 per cent higher than the rate recorded in October 2022 (1.24 per cent). This means that in the month of November 2022, the general price level was 0.15 per cent higher relative to October 2022.”

It said the increase in the monthly inflation rate can be attributed to the sharp increase in demand usually experienced during the festive season.

“Increase in cost of importation was due to the persistent currency depreciation, general increase in the cost of production, increase in energy cost.”

It stated that the ‘’All items less farm produce’ or core inflation, which exclude the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 18.24 per cent in November 2022 on a year-on-year basis, a 4.39 per cent when compared to 13.85 per cent recorded in November 2021.

“On a month-on-month basis, the core inflation rate was 1.67 per cent in November 2022. It stood at 0.93 per cent in October 2022, up by 0.74 per cent.

“The highest increases were recorded in prices of gas, liquid fuel, passenger transport by air, vehicles spare parts and solid fuel.”