Nigeria’s inflation rises in December, says NBS
Nigeria’s double-digit inflation climbed to 15.63% in December 2021 after eight straight months of decline as prices for food and non-food items rose, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.
Inflation, which has been in double digits since 2016, rose by 0.23 percentage points from 15.40% in November, it said.
“The change must have been caused by the increase in the price of goods and services as a result of the increase in demand during the festive season,” said Simon Harry, head of the National Bureau of Statistics.
Nigeria imports many key goods and services. A dollar shortage has prompted the government to put restrictions on forex for certain items, exerting pressure on prices.
Nigerian authorities have said persistent inflationary pressures are structural – linked to deficits and not solely to the money supply – and largely imported.
Food price inflation, the major headline component, increased by 0.16 percentage points in December to 17.37%, the statistics office said. Core inflation, excluding prices of farm produce, rose 0.02 percentage points to 13.87%.
