August 16, 2022 

 Nigeria’s July inflation rate jumped to 19.64 per cent from 18.60 per cent in June, signaling a looming cost of living crisis in Africa’s most populous nation.

According to the national bureau of statistics, the 19.64 per cent inflation represents the country’s highest inflation in 17 years.

The statistician-general of the federation and chief executive officer, national bureau of statistics, Prince Semiu Adeniran, said this in the consumer price index for July 2022 released by the bureau in Abuja on Tuesday.

Economists and other stakeholders, in separate interviews, warned that the rising inflation would worsen hunger in the country, adding that the government risked mass protests similar to the one in Sierra Leone recently.

Giving a breakdown of the report in a statement, Adeniran said the CPI measures the average change over time in the prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living.

According to him, it was a core macroeconomic indicator used in the derivation of the inflation rate for policy, planning, and monitoring of an economy.