Despite CBN’s Monetary Tightening Stance, Food Inflation Soars To 24.32% In January

Food prices in Nigeria have picked up to 24.32 per cent rate in the first month of this year

The National Bureau of Statistics revealed this in its January Consumer Price Index report.

The NBS said the headline inflation rate rose to 21.82 per cent in January compared to December 2022 when inflation rate was 21.34 per cent.

In December, the inflation rate fell to 21.34 per cent, while the food component was 23.75 per cent.

The decline in December was the first deceleration experienced in over nine months.

The surge in January comes despite the increase of the Monetary policy rate from 16.5 per cent in November to 17.5 per cent in January by the Central Bank of Nigeria to curb inflation.

The CBN Monetary Policy Committee members took the decision citing fears of a further rise in inflation.

The NBS said, “The rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of Bread and Cereals, Oil and Fat, Potatoes, Yam and Other Tubers, Fish, Vegetables, Fruits, Meat, and Food Products.

“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in January 2023 was 2.08 per cent, this was 0.20 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022 (1.89 per cent).

“This increase was attributed to increase in the prices of some food items like Oil and Fat, Bread and Cereals, Fish, Potatoes, Yam & Tubers, etc.”

The report said food inflation on a year-on-year basis was highest in Kwara (29.03 per cent), Lagos (27.67 per cent), and Ondo (27.38 per cent), while Jigawa (19.22 per cent), Sokoto (20.80 per cent) and Yobe(21.32 per cent) recorded the slowest rise in year-on-year food inflation.

On a month-on-month basis, however, January 2023 food inflation was highest in Lagos (3.67 per cent), Ogun (3.54 per cent), and Ekiti (3.32 per cent), while Yobe (-0.50 per cent), Jigawa (0.18 per cent) and Kebbi (0.92 per cent) recorded the slowest rise on month-on-month inflation.