Nigeria’s inflation rises to 20.77% in September 

Nigeria’s inflation rose to 20.77% in the month of September, 2022. The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS disclosed this in its monthly report released on Monday.

According to the report, the headline inflation rate rose to 20.77% in September 2022, on a year–on- year basis.

This the bureau said was 4.14% points higher compared to the rate recorded in September 2021, which was (16.63%).

The food inflation rate stood at 23.34% on a year-on-year basis, recording a surge from the 23.12% recorded in the previous month.

The NBS said increase in the food index was attributed to increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products, potatoes, yams, and other tubers, oil, and fat.

The ‘’All items less farm produce’’ or core inflation, including the prices of volatile agricultural produce, stood at 17.60%, up from 17.2% recorded in August 2022.

The bureau said the highest increases were recorded in prices of gas, liquid fuel, passenger transport by air, passenger travel by road, and solid fuel.

The NBS explained that rising inflation rate was caused by soaring food prices, disruption in food supply chain, rise in import cost due to the currency depreciation, and increase in the cost of production.

The inflation rate increase places renewed pressure on the Nigerian apex bank to increase interest rates and put inflationary pressure at bay.

Last month, the policy-setting committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) raised the monetary policy rate (MPR), which measures interest rate, from 14 percent to 15.5 percent, the third consecutive increase in 2022.

On Monday, a report by Agora Policy which analysed Nigeria’s economic datasets from 2011 to 2021, called for in-depth reforms in trade and investment, inflation, interest and exchange rates, unemployment, and poverty.