*Ebonyi, Rivers, Bayelsa hardest hit
Nigeria’s headline inflation maintained its upward trend as it rose 20.52 percent in August 2022 on a year on year basis, Nigeria’s data agency, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Thursday.
The figure is 0.86 higher than 19.64 percent recorded for July.
Headline inflation has risen steadily in the last nine months, a development that forced the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to raise the nation’s benchmark interest rate, the Monetary Policy Rate by 250 basis points from 11.5 percent to 14 percent between April and July this year.
On a state-by-state basis, Ebonyi, Rivers and Bayelsa states experienced the highest inflationary pressure in the country.
Inflation in August for the three aforementioned states stood at 25.33 percent; 23.70 percent, and 23.01 percent.
On the other hand, inflationary pressures were least in the northwest with Jigawa and Zamfara recording 17.30 percent and 18.04 percent respectively.
Another State where inflation was low in August compared to the national average is Borno, where it was 17.56 percent.