Highlights

For January 2023

The food inflation index increased to 24.32 percent in January 2023 from 21.34 percent in December 2022 with a difference of 2.98 percent due to an increase in the prices of some food items¹. Furthermore, there’s a cash crunch in Nigeria currently due to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign policy.  And as such demand for new Naira notes outweighs the supply, and the scarcity of the new Naira notes continues to disrupt economic activities for Nigerians operating cash-dependent informal businesses.    

In January 2023, compared to December 2022, staple food prices witnessed relative stability in Borno and Yobe states. However, when compared on a year-on-year basis, staple food prices showed a substantial increase in both states, notably for local rice which increased by 34 percent in MMC/Jere markets and 58 percent in the Damaturu market. This would further limit households’ access to food and their purchasing power. (See page 4)

The cost of the 70 percent Survival Minimum Expenditure Basket (SMEB) for a family of five in Maiduguri and Jere in Borno State was 31,928 naira in January 2023 — a slight increase of 1 percent compared to 31,683 naira in December 2022. Similarly, in Damaturu the SMEB slightly increased by 1 percent from 32,275 naira in December 2022 to 32,518 naira in January 2023. Please refer to page 3 for the SMEB values in other LGAs of the BAY states.