Naira redesign policy skyrockets inflation to 21.82% – NBS
By Felicia Nwosu
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that Nigeria’s inflation soared to 21.82 percent in January 2023. The report suggested that the soaring inflation might not be unconnected with the economic crunch across all sectors of the economy, which has been heightened by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) monetary policy.
According to reports, the naira redesign exercise is causing acute banknote scarcity thereby upending financial transactions and plunging millions of Nigerians in untold hardship.
NBS further stated that January’s inflation rate is a 0.48 percent point increase from the 21.34 per cent that was recorded in December 2022, pointing out that this is a new 17-year high after inflation fell for the first time in December 2022.
According to the statistics body, Nigeria’s inflation rate had been rising consistently for 11 months before December.
In 2022, the NBS listed disruption in the supply of food products, increases in import cost due to the naira’s depreciation and a general increase in the cost of production as the cause of the rise in inflation.
In its ‘Consumer Price Index’ for January 2023, the national statistics body said, “In January 2023, the headline inflation rate rose to 21.82 per cent compared to December 2022 headline inflation rate which was 21.34 per cent.
“Looking at the trend, the January 2023 inflation rate showed an increase of 0.47 per cent points when compared to December 2022 inflation rate. However, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.22 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in January 2022, which was 15.60 per cent.
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in the month of January 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., January 2022).”
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