West Africa, cost of living update - Apr 2022

Consumer prices started the year at historic highs in West Africa and have continued their incline for at least nine of the region’s 15 economies. Even in the countries where the rate of increase moderated between January and February 2022, inflation is still significantly above 2017-2021 averages. A few have now released March 2022 data, details of which underline the scale of forces at work on households, businesses and government authorities – consumer price inflation stood at 7.6% in Cape Verde, 15.9% in Nigeria, 17.6% in Sierra Leone and 19.4% in Ghana last month.