Nigeria’s Inflation Hits 22.41% Amid Petrol Subsidy Removal

Amid the removal of subsidy on petrol, Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 22.41 percent in May 2023, up from 22.22 percent in April 2023.

This is according to the May inflation data contained in the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Thursday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The CPI measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services.

The report stated that the May 2023 inflation rate showed an increase of 0.19% points when compared to April 2023 headline inflation rate.

“Similarly, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 4.70% points higher compared to the rate recorded in May 2022, which was (17.71%).

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in the month of May 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year.

“Likewise, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in May 2023 was 1.94%, which was 0.03% higher than the rate recorded in April 2023 (1.91%).

This means that in the month of May 2023, on the average, the general price level was 0.03% higher relative to April 2023, according to the NBS.

The report also disclosed that percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months period ending May 2023 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 21.20%, showing 4.75% increase compared to 16.45% recorded in May 2022.