Moderation in Food Prices Slows Inflation to 16.82%

•Food inflation worst in Kogi, Kwara, Ebonyi

James Emejo

The Consumer Price Index, (CPI) which measures inflation moderated to 16.82 per cent (year-on-year) in April, compared to the 18.12 per cent recorded in April 2021, the National Bureau of Statistic (NBS) disclosed yesterday.

However, month-on-month, the headline index increased to 1.76 per cent in April, representing 0.02 per cent rise compared to the 1.74 per cent recorded in March.

Month-on-month, inflation recorded the highest increases in Abuja at 2.91 per cent; Taraba – 2.76 per cent and Bauchi – 2.65 per cent, while Benue was 0.29 per cent, Kogi –  0.48 per cent and Niger – 0.66 per cent recorded the slowest rise in prices April.

According to the NBS, this meant that inflation rate slowed down in April when compared to the same month in the previous year, though price increases occurred in every parameter that yielded the headline index during the review period.

The composite food index moderated to 18.37 per cent in April 2022, compared to 22.72 per cent in April 2021. Month-on-month, however, the sub-index increased to two per cent in April, up by 0.01 percentage points from 1.99 per cent recorded in March.

According to the CPI report for April which was released by the NBS, the 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 oil.

The average annual rate of change of the food sub-index for the 12- month period ending April 2022, over the previous 12-month average was 18.88 per cent compared to 19.21 per cent in March.

On the other hand, core inflation, which excluded the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 14.18 per cent in April 2022, up by 1.44 per cent when compared with 12.74 per cent recorded in April 2021.

On a month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased to 1.22 per cent in April 2022, down by 0.24 per cent when compared with 0.98 per cent recorded in March.

There were increases in the prices of gas, liquid fuel, cleaning, repair and hire of clothing, clothing materials, other articles of clothing, and clothing accessories.

The average 12-month annual rate of change of the index was 13.68 per cent for the 12-month period ending April 2022; this is 0.12 percent points higher than the 13.56 per cent recorded in March.

The percentage change in the average composite CPI for the 12- month period ending April 2022, over the average of the CPI for the previous12-month period was 16.45 per cent, showing a 0.1 per cent decrease compare to the 16.54 percent recorded in March.

However, the urban inflation rate slowed to 17.35 per cent (year-on-year) in April 2022, compared to 18.68 per cent in April 2021, while the rural inflation rate also moderated to 16.32 per cent in April 2022 from 17.57 per cent in April the previous year.

Food inflation, year-on-year was highest in Kogi at 22.79 per cent; Kwara – 21.56 per cent and Ebonyi – 21.45 per cent, while Sokoto recorded 14.85 per cent food inflation, Kaduna – 15.55 per cent and Anambra at 16.68 per cent recorded the slowest rise in prices.

On the other hand, month-on-month, food inflation was highest in Ekiti at 4.03 per cent, Taraba at 3.68 per cent, and Osun at 3.04 per cent, while Anambra at 0.66 per cent, Kogi at 1.01 per cent and Bauchi – 1.08 per cent recorded the slowest rise in prices.