KPMG Flashnotes - Issue 1

Highlights

• Nigeria's annual Inflation rate remained high and largely unchanged across all categories in February 2023.
• The cash crunch which has affected consumers expenditure following the earlier redesign of the naira, doesn't seem to have slowed down inflation yet, despite a 500-basis interest rate hike since May 2022 and a 235% decline in cash in circulation.
• CBN likely to maintain its hawkish stance on rates when the MPC meets 20-21 March, while it waits to assess Q1 2023 GDP results.

Event

The National Bureau of Statistics has published its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for February 2023. The CPI, a closely watched gauge of inflation, showed that annual price changes remained high and rising in February. The headline CPI for February measured 21.89% (a new two decade high) compared to 21.82% in January. On a monthly basis, however, prices slowed by 1.71% compared to the January monthly rate of 1.81%.