May 17 2022.

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has hinted in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report that inflation rate rose to 16.82 percent in April  2022.

Reportedly, this represented the highest rate recorded since August 2021 (highest in eight months).

The bureau also said that the composite food index rose year-on-year (YoY) by  1.17 basis points  to 18.37  percent in April  2022 from 17.20  per cent in March 2022.

NBS emphasized that the rise in food index was due to increases in prices of bread and cereals, food products, potatoes, yam, and other tubers, wine, fish, meat, and oils.

According to the bureau: ““In April 2022, the CPI which measures inflation increased to 16.82 percent on a YoY basis. This is 1.3 percent points lower compared to the rate record-ed in April 2021 (18.12) percent. This means that the headline inflation rate slowed down in April when compared to the same month in the previous.

“Increases were recorded in all COICOP divisions that yielded the Headline index.”

“On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the Headline index increased to 1.76 percent in April 2022, this is a 0.02 percent rate higher than the rate recorded in March 2022 (1.74) percent

NBS explained: “The urban inflation rate increased to 17.35 percent (YoY) in April 2022 from 18.68 percent recorded in April 2021, while the rural inflation rate increased to 16.32 percent in April 2022 from 17.57 percent in April 2021.

“On a MoM basis, the urban index rose to 1.78 percent in April 2022, up by 0.02 from the rate recorded in March 2022 (1.76), while the rural index also rose to 1.74 percent in April 2022, up by 0.01 from the rate that was recorded in March 2022 (1.73) percent.”

On food index NBS said: “The composite food index rose to 18.37 percent in April 2022 compared to 22.72 percent in April 2021.

This rise in the food index was caused by increases in the prices of bread and cereals, food products, potatoes, yam, and other tubers, wine, fish, meat, and oils

“On a MoM basis, the food sub-index increased to 2.00 percent in April 2022, up by 0.01 percent points from 1.99 percent recorded in March 2022.

“In April 2022, food inflation on a YoY basis was highest in Kogi (22.79 per cent ), Kwara (21.56 per cent), and Ebonyi (21.45 per cent), while Sokoto (14.85 per cent), Kaduna (15.55 per cent and Anambra (16.68 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in YoY food inflation.