Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose to 22.41 percent in May, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
The bureau disclosed this in its monthly report revealed on Thursday in its website.
According to the NBS, the inflation rate rose from 22.22 percent in April to 22.41 per cent in the month under review, amidst an increase in the prices of food items.
The Bureau noted that within a year, the rate had accrued a difference of 4.70 percent from May 2022, where the inflation was 17.71 percent, until May 2023.
Items like food and non-alcoholic beverages (11.61 percent), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel (3.75 percent), clothing & footwear
(1.71 percent), transport (1.46 percent), among others contributed largely on the divisional level to the increase in the headline.
Also, the report on the food inflation rate showed that food inflation rate quickened from 24.61 percent in April, to 24.82 percent in May and on a year-on-year basis, was 5.33 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in May 2022 (19.50 percent).
The bureau further informed that the increase in prices of food on a year-on-year basis was a result of an increase in prices of oil and fat, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, fruits, meat, vegetables, and spirits.
However, the report added that the core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 20.06 per cent in May 2023 on a year-on-year basis; up by 5.16 percent when compared to the 14.90 percent recorded in May 2022.
Meanwhile, the report indicated that the highest increase was recorded in prices of gas, passenger transport by air, liquid fuel, vehicle spare parts, fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment, medical services, passenger transport by road etc.
