Despite High Pricess, NBS Said Inflation Dropped To 21.34% In December– NBS

Nigeria’s inflation decelerated to 21.34 per cent in December 2022, the first drop in more than nine months.

This was revealed in the inflation report released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.

The development comes amidst the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Rate hike to 16.5 per cent in November.

The NBS said in December 2022, the headline inflation rate eased to 21.34% compared to November 2022 headline inflation rate.

On a year-on-year basis, inflation rate rose 5.72 per cent higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2021, which was (15.63 per cent).

Food inflation in December 2022 was 23.75 per cent on a year-on-year, 6.38 per cent higher than the 17.37 per cent in December 2021.

This is a fall compared to food inflation which hit 24.13 per cent in November 2022.

“The rise in the food inflation was caused by increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Oil and fat, Potatoes, Yam and other tubers, Fish, Food Product.” NBS said.

Reacting, Professor of Capital Market Studies at Nassarawa State Univeristy, Uche Uwaleke attributed the drop to the monetray policy tightening of the CBN.

He said “Although headline inflation came in lower in December compared to November on year on year basis, the usual demand pressure associated with the festive season was evident when viewed on month-on-month basis.

“It’s equally not surprising to note that core inflation increased in December 2022 relative to the previous month which may be due in part to the pass-through of higher exchange rates on imported items such as clothing, furniture, and other commodities usually in high demand during the Christmas period.

“One explanation for the slight deceleration in headline inflation for the month of December could be the lagged impact of CBN’s monetary policy tightening which I expect to linger and result in further disinflation in the coming months reinforced by the currency redesign and cash withdrawal limit.”