Background
Nigeria’s annual inflation rate accelerated for the third straight month to 16.82% in April of 2022, from 15.92% in the prior month. It was the steepest inflation rate since August 2021, driven by the prices of food and non-food products. Like most African countries, Nigeria is grappling with rising prices of food, as the continent is still largely dependent on agricultural imports, especially grains. Also, soaring diesel prices and the ongoing dollar shortage contributed to the upward trend in inflation. Food inflation rose to 18.37% in the review month, an increase compared to the 17.2% recorded in the preceding month (National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria, April 2022).

According to WFP April 2022 Market Monitoring Report in Borno and Yobe states, the value of the Naira in the parallel market continued to depreciate as the exchange rate rose from N587 to a dollar on the 31st of March to N589 on the 30th of April 2022.

In Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) and Jere for instance, the partner’s monthly monitoring indicated that the cost of Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB) for food MEB has increased by about 35% as of May 2022, as compared to June 2021 when the transfer value was last reviewed. This has negatively impacted food access by the already vulnerable households supported by the various government and non-government partners.