Nigeria’s inflation soars further to 15.75% as economy struggles towards recovery

The urban inflation rate increased by 16.33 percent (year-on-year) in December 2020 from 15.47 percent recorded in November 2020

Pushed majorly by soaring food prices, Nigeria’s inflation hastened by 15.75 percent (year-on-year) in December 2020, according to new figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday.

This is 0.86 percentage points higher than the 14.89 percent recorded in November 2020 – for a country still struggling to cope with a difficult recession.

This is despite efforts and optimism of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to keep inflation within the single-digit band.

Food inflation rose sharply by 19.56 percent in December 2020 compared to 18.30 percent in November 2020.

The urban inflation rate increased by 16.33 percent (year-on-year) in December 2020 from 15.47 percent recorded in November 2020, while the rural inflation rate increased by 15.20 percent in December 2020 from 14.33 percent in November 2020.

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State profiles for December 2020 indicated that all items for inflation (year-on-year) basis was highest in Bauchi (19.85 percent), Edo (18.15 percent) and Kogi (18.40 percent), while Lagos (14.05 percent), Kwara (13.91 percent) and Abia (13.30 percent) recorded the slowest rise in headline year-on-year inflation.

On month-on-month basis, however, December 2020 all items inflation was highest in Nasarawa (2.30 percent), Gombe (2.20 percent) and Akwa Ibom (2.16 percent), while Ekiti (0.87 percent), Rivers (0.67 percent) and Ebonyi (0.61 percent) recorded the slowest rise in headline month-on-month inflation.

State profiles for food inflation for December 2020 indicated that on a year-on-year basis, the highest were Edo (24.14 percent), Kogi (23.14 percent) and Sokoto (22.24 percent), while Bauchi (16.53 percent), Abia (16.04 percent) and Nasarawa (15.71 percent) recorded the slowest rise.

On month-on-month basis, however, December 2020 food inflation was highest in Edo (3.68 percent), Benin (3.48 percent) and Gombe (3.00 percent), while Rivers (0.93 percent), Osun (0.59 percent) and Ekiti (0.24 percent) recorded the slowest rise.