The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has disclosed that Nigeria’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) may hit 16.1 percent in 2022.
The projected percentage will be the highest in the country since October 2021 when it was 16.63 per cent.
The IMF made this known in its Regional Economic Outlook report for Sub-Saharan Africa released last week, which was published on its website.
According to the IMF, the inflation rate would drop to 13.1 percent by 2023, adding that the effects of inflation would be catastrophic if not tackled.
The report read in part, “In sub-Saharan Africa, food prices are also the most important channel of transmission, although in slightly different ways. Wheat is a less important part of the diet, but food, in general, is a larger share of consumption.
“Higher food prices will hurt consumers’ purchasing power, particularly among low-income households, and weigh on domestic demand. Social and political turmoil, most notably in West Africa, also weighs on the outlook.”
IMF’s figure is higher than that of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which showed that Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 15.92 per cent in March.
It is understood that this new rate is the highest the country has recorded since October 2021, when the inflation rate hit 15.99 per cent.
