The spiraling food prices in Nigeria reached an all -time high of 19.56 per cent in December 2020 as against the figures of 18.3 per cent recorded in November 2020, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Meanwhile, the country’s annual inflation rate also soared for a 16th straight month to 15.75 per cent in December of 2020. It was the highest inflation rate since November of 2017. This is coming weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari’s order to reopen the country’s land borders to trade shut since August 2019.

*Source: National Bureau of Statistics

The acceleration in inflation rates continued to be attributed to dollar shortages and surging bandit attacks in farming areas as well as lingering disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic. On a monthly basis, consumer prices inched up 1.61 per cent, the most since May 2017, little-changed from a 1.60 percent increase in the prior month.

Nigeria’s annual inflation rate had quickened for a 15th straight month to 14.89per cent in November of 2020 from 14.23per cent in October. It was the highest inflation rate since January of 2018, as food inflation hit a near three-year high of 18.3per cent.

In October last year, Nigeria’s annual inflation rate climbed for a 14th straight month to 14.23 per cent from 13.71 per cent in September. It was the highest inflation rate since February of 2018, amid widespread increases in prices due to the adverse effects of the border closures and Covid-19 crisis.