Nigeria’s inflation fell in December to 21.34 percent from 21.47 percent in November after 10 consecutive monthly increases, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.
The NBS report indicated that food inflation fell to 23.75% in December from 24.13% the previous month amid skyrocketing prices for basic commodities.
The NBS had attributed the rise in inflation to a sharp increase in demand ahead of the Christmas season amid the rising cost of production.
“Increases were recorded in all … divisions that generated the main index, notably food and non-alcoholic beverages, transport and miscellaneous goods and services,” the NBS said in its report.
The drop in the inflation rate comes as the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee prepares to meet for the first time this year.
At the meeting, scheduled for next week, the MPC, as part of efforts to control inflation, will decide on interest rates in Africa’s largest economy.
Other details
In terms of trend, the NBS noted that the December 2022 inflation rate showed a decrease of 0.13% compared to the November 2022 inflation rate.
“However, in year-on-year terms, the general inflation rate was 5.72% points higher than the rate registered in December 2021, which was (15.63%),” he said.
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“This shows that the headline inflation rate increased in the month of December 2022 compared to the same month of the previous year (i.e. December 2021).”
The month-over-month percentage change of the All Articles Index in December 2022 was 1.71%, 0.32% higher than the rate registered in November 2022 (1.39%).
This means that in the month of December 2022, the general price level was 0.32 percent higher than in November 2022.
Similarly, urban inflation stood at 22.01 percent, while rural inflation was 20.72 percent, the NBS said.
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