November 2022 Consumer Price Index (CPI) Inflation Report

The November inflation report shows that the hardship around the world is far from over. Despite inflation hitting a 17-year high in Nigeria, my home country, the cost of food and other items in the market doesn’t seem to tally, and many believe that the report doesn't reflect the reality on the ground. To the common man on the street in Nigeria, the inflation should not be anything less than 100% because, as far as they are concerned, the prices of most items have doubled and some have more than doubled the price they were this time last year. In fairness to those who feel that way, that is how bad and tight things have become in the country.

Nigeria Inflation For November 2022

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) latest inflation report, released on Thursday, May 15, the country's headline inflation rose to 21.47% year on year, 6.07% higher than the same time last year. The report showed that Nigeria’s inflation rate has now risen for 10 straight months, taking it to its highest level in 17 years (since September 2005), when the rate stood at 24.32%. According to a World Bank report, the November inflation has pushed another 5 million Nigerians below the poverty line. That's in addition to 133 million who MPI report last month said are multi-dimensionally poor.

The authorities may have attributed the November inflation report to an increase in demand that usually characterises the Christmas season, the high cost of importation due to the persistent currency depreciation and devaluation, and a general increase in the cost of production.  The fact remains that until a country is productive and able to feed itself without depending on food imports, the currency will remain undervalued and devalued.  You will see that productive countries are already seeing slight reductions in CPI inflation figures, and where there is a rise it's not as dramatic as it's in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

Inflation Breakdown

On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate was 1.39%, 0.15% higher than the 1.24% recorded in October which the NBS attributed to higher demand usually experience in festive seasons.  They probably forgot that though the report came out in December, it captures only the consumer price index of November and not December when festive purchases usually heighten.

Food Index: The food Price Index showed that food inflation year-on-year rose to 24.13% from 23.72% recorded in October.  It was 1.40 per cent from 1.23%, 0.17% higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022. The rise in food inflation has over the months attributed to the increases in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, fish, etc, according to NBS.

Rural And Urban Inflation Rate: The rural and urban inflation rates stood at 20.88% and 22.09% on a year-on-year basis, 5.99% and 6.17% higher compared to 14.89% and 15.92% in November 2021 respectively.  1.30% and 1.50% indicating a rise of 0.14% and 0.16% compared to 1.16% and 1.33% respectively in October 2022, on a month-on-month basis

Sates: Ebonyi state led the chart with 26.11% while Kaduna recorded the lowest rise at 18.87%

Inflation Around the world

United States: The United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 7.1% in November 2022, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics' Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released on Wednesday, December 14.  This is a decline from the 7.7% it recorded in October of the same year. The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose by 6% during the same period, falling short of the 6.1% expected. Figures show that there was a momentary surge on Wall Street, with the DJIA adding over 600 points in anticipation that the US Federal Reserve would ease up on the pace of tightening and maybe announce the end of the current tightening regime.

Germany: Germany also shows a slight improvement in the inflation report. The inflation rate in Germany, measured as the year-on-year change in the consumer price index (CPI), stood at 10.0 per cent in November 2022 from 10.4% in October 2022.

The inflation rate remains at a high level of +10.0% despite a slight slowdown in energy prices

says Dr Georg Thiel, President of the Federal Statistical Office.

He also went on to explain:

We see price increases for more and more other goods, in addition to energy. What has become particularly notable for households is the continuing increase in food prices.

The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that consumer prices in November 2022 were down 0.5% on October 2022.

Ghana: For Ghana the story was different. Ghana's inflation rate jumped to 50.3% in November 2022 from 40.4% in October, says the Ghana Statistical Service on Wednesday, December 14.  Ghana opened the year in January with a 13.6% inflation rate, but since then it has continued to rise worsened by currency depreciation and a fiscal crisis in the country today. The crisis in Ghana triggered Ghana to seek a restructuring of its local debts just last week and has gone ahead to secure a $3 billion bailout deal with the IMF.

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