Index to Nigerian Newspapers

Nigeria's headline inflation rate rose to 15.63 per cent in December 2021, from 15.40 per cent recorded in November. This is due to global concerns over rising prices of essential commodities, leaving the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) with hard choices as they meet next week. According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), December recorded 1.82 per cent month-on-month change to push the headline inflation rate up. This suggests that prices showed an uptick in December 2021 but dropped when compared to the corresponding period of 2020. The NBS reported that in December 2021, all items inflation was highest in Ebonyi (18.71%), Kogi (18.37%), Bauchi (17.81%), Kwara (12.32%), Edo (13.46%), Cross River (13.93%), Kaduna (13.24%), Sokoto (14.53%) and Jigawa (0.56%). Food inflation also increased to 17.37% in December from 17.21% in November, caused by increases in the price of bread and cereals, food product, meat, fish, potatoes, yam and other tubers, soft drinks and fruits.