Nigeria’s Inflation Rate Rises To 31.7% Amid Food Prices Hike

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed in it’s latest report that Nigeria’s inflation rate skyrocketed by 31.6% in the month of February.

According to the report, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, went up from 29.9 per cent recorded in the previous month.

The CPI report released on Friday (today) also revealed that food inflation surged to 37.92 per cent in the month under review.

The bureau said the January 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of “1.80% points when compared to the January 2023 headline inflation rate.”

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has stated that Nigeria’s agricultural exports dropped sharply when the country began prioritizing the exploitation of petroleum resources, despite its previous success as a major agricultural exporter.

Naija News reports that the ex-Minister of Finance mentioned this while introducing the $1.2 million plan to upgrade Nigeria’s sesame and cowpea products for international trade.

Okonjo-Iweala pointed out that Nigeria’s farming could produce many different things to sell and create jobs, but it’s not working because of problems.

She highlighted Nigeria’s historical significance as an exporter of agricultural products such as palm kernel, groundnuts, palm oil, cotton, and cocoa.

However, she noted that Nigeria has become a net importer of many of these goods. This shift has led to significant financial outflows, with Nigeria spending billions annually on imported goods that it could potentially produce domestically.

She pointed out that Nigeria’s status as a major agricultural exporter declined as the economy increasingly focused on petroleum exploitation.