Highlights
• The nation-wide food inflation index increased slightly from 24.45 percent in March 2023 to 24.61 percent in April 2023 ¹. The Naira appreciated by 1.4 per-cent at the parallel market as it closed at N740/$1 on 30th of April 2023 compared to N750/$1 the previous month. But depreciated by 27 percent when compared to its rate recorded the same time last year.
• The cost of the 70 percent Survival Minimum Expenditure Basket (SMEB) for a family of five in Maiduguri and Jere in Borno State was 29,882 naira in April 2023 — an increase of 4 percent compared to 28,613 naira in March 2023. However, in Damaturu the SMEB increased by 9.5 percent from 28,712 nai-ra in March 2023 to 31,440 naira in April 2023. Please refer to Table 3 for the SMEB values in other LGAs of the BAY states.
• The increase in SMEB is linked to rise in the price of staples compared to the previous month, resulting from reduced market supplies, increase in transportation cost and increased demand.