By Chijioke Ohuocha
ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigerian annual inflation climbed in May to 17.71%, rising for the fourth straight month in Africa’s biggest economy, driven by both food and non-food prices, the statistics office said on Wednesday.
Inflation, which has been in double digits since 2016, picked up from 16.82% in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
Food prices, a major headline component for Nigerian inflation, were up 19.50% year-on-year in May, according to the statistics bureau.
Core inflation, excluding prices of farm produce, rose 0.72 percentage points to 14.90% in May.
“The highest increases were recorded in prices of gas, liquid fuel … and passenger transport by road,” the bureau said in a report.
On Tuesday, the World Bank said it expected Nigeria’s 2022 inflation to hit 15.5%, up from its November estimate of 13.5%.
It said that while Nigeria’s growth outlook had improved those gains were being undermined by the increased cost of a petrol subsidy and distortions in the exchange rate of the naira.
Nigeria imports many key goods and services.
A dollar shortage has put pressure on prices as the government introduced restrictions to support the currency.
The war in Ukraine added to the strains, boosting prices of imported food and inputs for fertilizers, increasing oil price volatility and uncertainty around capital flows, the World Bank said in a report.
Nigerian authorities have said persistent inflationary pressures are structural, linked to infrastructural deficits, and largely imported.
Last month, the central bank raised the benchmark interest rate by 150 basis points to 13%, its first hike in more than two years, to combat rising inflation, sending markets tumbling.
(Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Estelle Shirbon and Tomasz Janowski)
