Naira Scarcity Causes Inflation Rate To Increase To 21.91% – NBS

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the nation’s headline inflation rate increased by 0.09 percentage points from 21.82 percent in January 2023 to 21.91 percent in February 2023.

In its study titled “Consumer Price Index (February 2023),” which was made accessible to Channels Television on Wednesday, the bureau made this claim.

The study is released as the nation works to recover from months of naira scarcity brought on by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) currency redesign program, which was initially announced on October 26, 2022.

Prior to the 2023 general elections, the CBN introduced the redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 banknotes in November 2022 in an effort to combat cash hoarding and vote-buying.

The new deadline of February 10 was implemented in conjunction with a Supreme Court decision upholding the legality of the earlier notes.

“In February 2023, the headline inflation rate jumped to 21.91% compared to January 2023 headline inflation rate which was 21.82%,” it read.

When compared to the headline inflation rate from January 2023, the February 2023 inflation rate increased by 0.09% points, according to the trend.

The headline inflation rate was also 6.21 percent points higher year over year than the 15.70 percent rate registered in February 2022.

This demonstrates that, when compared to the same month the year before (February 2022), the headline inflation rate rose in February 2023, according to the study.

“Bread and cereal (21.67%), Real and Imputed Rent (7.74%), Potatoes, Yam and Other Tubers (6.06%), Vegetable (5.44%), and Meat (4.78%) are shown as the items that contributed to the increase in the headline index on a class basis.”

The NBS reported that the All-Items Index changed by 1.71 percent on a monthly basis in February 2023, which was 0.16 percent points less than the rate seen in January 2023. (1.87 percent).

This indicates that the general price level was, on average, 0.16% lower in February 2023 compared to January 2023.

“The percentage difference between the average CPI for the 12 months ending in February 2023 and the average CPI for the 12 months prior was 19.87%, representing a rise of 3.15% points from the 16.73% recorded in February 2022. All COICOP divisions that produced the headline index showed an increase.