By John Ikani
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate witnessed a significant uptick as it increased by 15.70 percent in the month of February.
The rate is 1.63 percent points lower compared to the rate recorded in February 2021 (17.33 percent) but the highest since October 2021 (15.99%).
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its Consumer Price Index report released on Tuesday, attributed the marginal increase to a surge in energy prices which emanated as a result of the scarcity of petrol and the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine.
According to the report, increases were recorded in all classifications of individual consumption according to purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index.
On a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased to 1.63 per cent in February 2022, this is a 0.16 per cent rate higher than the rate recorded in January 2022 (1.47) per cent.
“The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the twelve months period ending February 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 16.73 per cent, showing 0.14 per cent point from 16.87 per cent recorded in January 2022.”
Concerning the urban inflation rate, an increase to 16.25 per cent (year-on-year) in February 2022 from 17.92 per cent was recorded in February 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased to 15.18 per cent in February 2022 from 16.77 per cent in February 2021.
“On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose to 1.65 per cent in February 2022, up by 0.12 the rate recorded in January 2022 (1.53) per cent, while the rural index also rose to 1.61 per cent in February 2022, up by 0.19 the rate that was recorded in January 2022 (1.42) per cent.”
“The twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 17.29 per cent in February 2022. This is lower than the 17.44 per cent reported in January 2022, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in February 2022 is 16.18 per cent which is lower than the 16.31 per cent recorded in January 2022,” the report also said.
Last month, Simon Harry, the statistician-general of the federation, had said the fuel crisis would affect the country’s inflation rate.
Since February, the Russia-Ukraine war has caused a hike in global oil prices, while the importation of off-spec petrol caused scarcity across Nigeria.
