Nigerians said the inflation rate in August was 20.52 percent, the highest since October 2005, up from 19.6 percent in July.

This is the seventh consecutive month of core inflation since February. Food inflation also increased by 1.1 percentage points from 22.02% last month to 23.12% in August 2022.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in its August report on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) that "there was an increase in all sectors of the core index". Bureau: "The annual headline inflation in August 2022 was 20.52%, i.e. 17.01%, 3.52 percentage points higher than in August 2021. This indicates that core inflation for August 2022 has increased compared to the previous year (August 2021). Monthly core inflation in August 2022 was 1.77%, down 0.05% from July 2022 (1.82%). The SNB reported on food inflation as follows: “Food inflation was 23.12% in August 2022. This is an increase of 2.82% (20.3%) from August 2021.

This increase in food inflation is due to increase in prices of bread and cereals, staple food, potatoes, yams and several tubers, fish, meat, oil and ghee. Monthly food inflation was 1.98% in August, 0.07% lower than in July 2022 (2.04%). This decrease is due to lower prices of some food items such as yam tubers, gari, local rice and vegetables.”

In addition to the reasons cited by the NBS, several experts who spoke to Vanguard also cited other inflationary pressures, suggesting several solutions. Monetary policy is not enough — Uvaleke

A Professor of Capital Markets at the Nasarawa State University in Keffi, Uche Uwaleke, said inflation rose by 20.52 percent, the highest in 20 years. Given the rising inflation trend in many economies due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

“It is interesting to note that the latest NBS CPI report highlights the main factors driving inflationary pressures in Nigeria: supply disruptions and rising production costs. Given these revelations, it is clear that the CBN's recent austerity measures will not be able to address these challenges. Governments need to develop and implement additional fiscal policies to increase the supply of food to businesses and reduce production costs.”

MPR increase is a major concern - Curfews

Mallam Garba Kurfi, analyst and CEO of APT Securities Funds Limited said: Sub. Similarly, other food prices, especially wheat, are falling worldwide. We expect inflation to moderate by the end of the year. More worrying, however, is the increase in the monetary policy rate (MPC) in the last two sessions of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). We expect monetary authorities to keep rates steady for the remainder of the year. Supply factors, foreign exchange fuel inflation —Olayinka

Tajudin Olayinka, analyst and CEO, Wyoming Capital and Partners, said: “The inflation rate of 20.52% as of August 2022 shows that the demand management tools the CBN is using to control inflation in Nigeria are really deteriorating. This situation was a supply factor as most of the factors contributing to inflation in Nigeria can be attributed to the supply side of the economy and most of them were not resolved until import inflation rose as a result of the war with Russia. Ukraine. “Foreign Exchange Deficits and Adequate Exchange Rate Management; endless uncertainty and limited access to farms; crude oil theft and non-compliance with OPEC production quotas; high costs of raw materials; lack of infrastructure; significant increases in the cost of capital in the economy are among others. the risk factors threatening the Nigerian economy.Therefore, the demand management tools of the CBN will be difficult to address. Unfortunately, the fiscal side is weak and currently does not contribute positively apart from excessive borrowing and fiscal tyranny. This also increases inflation.