Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 22.79 per cent in June 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The inflation rate rose from 22.41 per cent it was in May —the highest recorded in 17 years.
The NBS stated that the latest inflation rate represented a 0.38 percentage points increase from the May figure.
It said, “On a year-on-year basis, the Headline inflation rate was 4.19 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in June 2022, which was 18.60 per cent. This shows that the Headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in June 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., June 2022).”
Food and non-alcoholic beverages, which prices grew by 11.81 per cent, included items that contributed the most to the latest inflation reality.
Nigeria recently stopped subsidising petroleum motor spirit (petrol), a development expected to cause a major shift on the inflation curve as it continues to have corresponding effects, mostly, on food and transportation.
President Bola Tinubu has announced that 12 million families would get a handout of N8, 000, being part of the palliative designed to cushion the effect of the petrol subsidy removal. He equally stated that fertilizers and grains would be released to poor farmers, amid his other cushioning plans.
