The general increase in the prices of food items has pushed Nigeria’s annual inflation to 28.20 per cent in November 2023 from 21.47 per cent in November 2022, the highest in 18 years.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report November for 2023 released yesterday, said food inflation rose from 24.13 per cent in November 2022 to 32.84 per cent in November 2023.
The NBS said the November 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.87 per cent points when compared to October 2023 headline inflation rate, which was 27.33 per cent
Nigeria has been battling double-digit inflation since 2016, a situation that has eroded incomes and savings and worsened the cost-living crisis in the country.
The new governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, has adopted an inflation-targeting policy and vowed to phase out the bank’s fiscal intervention programmes in a bid to tame inflation.
The CBN governor while addressing the Joint Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions in Abuja, last Thursday, said the country’s inflation rate and the pressures on the exchange rate would reduce in the coming year.
“The outlook for the domestic economy remains positive and is expected to maintain the positive trajectory for 2024. Inflation pressures may persist in the short-term but are expected to decline in 2024. Exchange rate pressures are also expected to reduce significantly with the smooth functioning of the foreign exchange market,” he said.
Source: The Guardian
