Nigeria's inflation rate attains 17 years all-time high record in July

By: Damian Okonkwo

Nigeria's inflation rate attained an all-time-high in July 2022, with the inflation rate rising to 19.64% YoY marking its highest level since 2005.

According to the data released last week by the Chief executive officer, National Bureau of Statistics - Prince Semiu Adeniran, the consumer price index which measures the rate of inflation rose to 19.64% in July. This marks an over 2.27% increase compared to the 17.38% recorded in June 2021.

Speaking on the major areas where the highest inflation was recorded within the country, Adeniran remarked that the highest inflation rate came from all areas of individual consumption. Here he revealed that the high food cost of food caused by the disruption in the food supply was the major cause of the inflation witnessed in July 2022.

The disruption in food supply he explained, could be attributed to the high cost of transportation due to high fuel cost.

Still more, Adeniran stated that the increase in the inflation rate could be further traced to the high cost of importation by traders as a result of the devaluation of the Naira.

Speaking on the reason for the high cost of goods produced in the country, he believed this could be attributed to the high cost of production by companies due to the high cost of raw materials for their productions; as a result of the high exchange rate for Naira at the Investors and exchange (I&E) window.

The Naira exchange rate at the black market rose to N680/$ last Friday just a few points away from its previous high record above N700/$ recorded in July.

The exchange rate at the Importers and Export (I&E) window last Friday was N421.4 against the N419.2 recorded the previous week.

Above all, Adeniran mentioned that the average percentage change for the CPI YoY was 16.75%.

On a Month over Month (MoM) basis, Adeniran revealed that the food index in July 2022, decreased by 2.04% compared to the 2.05% recorded in June.

The Core CPI which excludes food and energy costs rose to 16.26% YoY in July. This marked a 2.54% increase compared to the 13.72% recorded in July 2021.

Given the high rate of inflation currently bedeviling the country, the cost of living in Nigeria has increased drastically in 2022 with the prices of goods and services almost doubling compared to their prices in 2020.

Notwithstanding the high cost of fuel today, the minister of State for Petroleum resources Dr. Timipre Sylva, revealed recently that the Federal government is losing 400,000 barrels of oil per day to crude oil theft. This means the country is not yet able go generate enough revenue from oil at the moment, and therefore likely that the rising enough cost will continue until the oil theft is controlled.