Nigeria’s inflation rate has again surged to 17.71 per cent, according to latest figures by the National Bureau of Statistics.
In May 2022, the inflation rate increased to 17.71 per cent on a year-on-year basis, the NBS said on Wednesday.
It stated in its ‘CPI and Inflation Report May 2022’ that the latest figure is a 0.22 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in May 2021, which is (17.93) per cent.
The report read in part, “This means that the headline inflation rate slowed down in the month of May when compared to the same month in the previous year (i.e. the year 2021). Increases were recorded in all classification of individual consumption by purpose divisions that yielded the headline index.”
On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate increased to 1.78 per cent in May 2022, this is also 0.02 per cent rate higher than the rate recorded in April 2022 (1.76) per cent.
The urban inflation rate increased to 18.24 per cent (year-on-year); this is a 0.27 per cent decline compared to 18.51 per cent recorded in May 2021.
On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate rose to 1.81 per cent in May 2022, this is a 0.03 per cent increase compared to April 2022 (1.78).
The corresponding 12-month average percentage change for the urban index is 17.00 per cent in May 2022. This is 0.91 per cent higher compared to 16.09 per cent reported in May 2021.
The rural inflation rate increased to 17.21 per cent in May 2022 (year-on-year) basis; this is a 0.15 per cent decline compared to 17.36 recorded in May 2021.
On a month-on-month basis, the rural index rose to 1.76 per cent in May 2022, up by 0.02 per cent from the rate recorded in April 2022 (1.74), while the corresponding 12-month average percentage change for the rural inflation rate in May 2022 is 15.91 per cent.
This is 0.97 per cent higher compared to 14.94 per cent recorded in May 2021.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, an economic expert at the Pan-Atlantic University, Associate-Professor Olalekan Aworinde, said the events of the last few months were apt indicators that the inflation rate would increase further.