.As Nation’s Inflation Increases To 22.22%
Nigeria has reportedly lost its place as Africa’s crude oil producer to Angola following a decline in production.
Trumpeta learnt that this was revealed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, in its April 2023 Monthly Oil market report.
OPEC said its 13 member countries’ crude oil production averaged 28.60 million barrels per day in the period under review, representing a 191,000 barrels per day decline month-on-month.
It stated that crude oil output jumped mainly in Saudi Arabia, Angola and Iran, while production dropped in Iraq and Nigeria.
The report indicated that Angola recorded 1.06 million barrels per day of crude production in April 2023.
Meanwhile, according to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, the country’s crude oil production declined to 998,602 bpd in April 2023, representing a 21.26 per cent reduction compared to March.
Nigeria’s April crude oil production volume was at its lowest in the last seven months.
Last August and September last year was the last time crude oil production output appreciated.
The government and stakeholders had attributed a hike in oil theft in the oil-producing region of the Niger Delta to the drop.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s April inflation figure on Monday increased to 22.22 per cent from 22.04 per cent last month.
The National Bureau of Statistics Consumer Price Index report released Monday disclosed this.
The data represented a 0.18 per cent increase from April’s inflation figure.
On a month-on-month basis, the All-Items Index in April 2023 was 1.91%, 0.05% points higher than the rate recorded in March 2023 (1.86%). This means that in April 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.05% higher relative to March 2023.
Nigeria’s inflation rate continues its uptrend despite multiple interest rate hikes by the central bank to tame the rising rate. The CBN has increased the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) from 11.5% to 18% between May last year and March 2023.
The food inflation rate in April 2023 was 24.61% on a year-on-year basis, which was 6.24% points higher compared to the rate recorded in April 2022 (18.37%) and 24.35% recorded in the previous month.
The rise in food inflation yearly was caused by increased prices of Oil and fat, Bread and cereals, Fish, Potatoes, Yam and other tubers, Fruits, Meat, Vegetable, and Spirits.
The “All items less farm produce” or Core inflation, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce, stood at 20.14% in April 2023 on a year-on-year basis. It shows that it was up by 5.96% compared to the 14.18% recorded in April 2022. It is also higher than the 19.86% recorded in March 2023.
The highest increases were recorded in prices of gas, air transport, liquid fuel, vehicle spare parts, fuels, and lubricants for personal transport equipment, medical services, and road transport.
The contributions of items on the divisional level to the increase in the headline index are; food and non-alcoholic beverages (11.51%), housing water, electricity, gas and other fuel (3.72%), clothing and footwear (1.7%), and transport (1.45%).
During the month under review, all items’ inflation rate (on a year-on-year basis) was highest in Bayelsa (26.14%), Kogi (25.57%), and Rivers (24.95%). On the flip side, Borno (19.06%), Taraba (19.64%) and Sokoto (19.90%) recorded the slowest rise in headline inflation on a year-on-year basis.
On a month-on-month basis, however, April 2023 recorded the highest increases in Cross River (3.05%), Bayelsa (2.92%), Rivers (2.62%), while Katsina (0.52%), Jigawa (0.74%) and Osun (0.96%) recorded the slowest rise on.
In terms of food inflation on a year-on-year basis, it was highest in Kogi (29.50%), Kwara (29.48%), and Bayelsa (29.38%), while Sokoto (19.55%), Taraba (20.20%) and Jigawa (20.68%) recorded the slowest rise.
The continued surge in inflation means the measures by the Central Bank of Nigeria have yet to yield results.
It means that Nigeria would continue to pay more for the prices of goods, thereby leading to a drop in purchasing power by Nigerians.
