April 16, 2024
By Kelechukwu Mgboji InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigeria’s headline inflation rate surged by 150 basis points in March, reaching a staggering 33.20% year-on-year, up from February’s 31.70%, as reported by the country’s statistics office, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)
Just a year ago, in April 2023, consumer inflation stood at 23.22%, indicating a significant 10% increase within a 12-month period.
The latest update revealed a slight easing in month-on-month headline inflation, dropping by 10 basis points to 3.02% from the previous month’s 3.12%. Analysts attribute this monthly decline to the rigorous monetary policy tightening, noting the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) substantial withdrawal of liquidity through Treasury and OMO bills sales.
Furthermore, the report highlighted a substantial rise in food inflation, soaring by 210 basis points to 40.01% year-on-year from February’s 37.92%. This surge is attributed to elevated prices of various staple commodities, including Garri, Millet, Palm Oil, and Beef, among others.
Meanwhile, core inflation, excluding farm produce and energy, expanded by 77 basis points to 25.90% year-on-year, with significant increases observed in transportation, housing rentals, medical consultation fees, and pharmaceutical products.
In contrast, Botswana witnessed a significant slowdown in inflation, plummeting to a seven-month low of 2.9% year-on-year in March 2024, down from 3.9% in the preceding two months. This decline was reflected across several consumer price index categories, including food & non-alcoholic beverages (5% vs 5.8% in February); alcoholic beverages & tobacco (5.3% vs 5.9%); clothing & footwear (4.3% vs 5.1%) and transportation (0.7% vs 3.5%),
On a monthly basis, consumer prices edged up by 0.1% in March, the same pace as in the prior month.
Botswana maintains its reputation as the least corrupt nation in mainland Africa, boasting the highest economic freedom score in the region and a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita comparable to emerging economies such as Brazil and Turkey, as cited by the Harvard Review.
In line with projections by Fitch Ratings, CBN’s recent policy tightening, coupled with exchange-rate adjustments, has failed to address Nigeria’s inflationary pressure and macroeconomic stability.
Early last month, Fitch Ratings had projected the rate of inflation to rise further in first half of the year (H1, 2024), before moderating in the second half (H2, 2024).
