Lagos State has been ranked as the 12th most expensive city to live in in Africa out of 15 for the first quarter of 2022.

This is according to data compiled by Statista, a global statistics portal integrating diverse topics of data and facts into a single platform.

This is coming amid rising inflation in the country and the dwindling purchasing power of Nigerians.

Dakar, Senegal is ranked as the most expensive city in Africa with a cost-of-living index of 50.87. Pretoria, South Africa ranked 6th position with an index of 42.76, while its legislative capital Cape Town ranked 8th with an index of 40.33.

Accra, Ghana was ranked higher than Nigeria with a cost of living index at the 11th position.

“The prices of goods and services have generally increased across the world with global events (such as the war in Ukraine) having direct negative impacts on many African economies, causing the increase in cost of living in these countries,” analysts at Statista said.

Over the past one year, the price of basic food items sold in Lagos has experienced an increase.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the average price of 1kg frozen chicken went up by 36.5 percent to N2,483.75 in April 2022 from N1,818.75 in April 2021.

The average price of a dozen eggs went as high as N815.4 from N568.10 making a 43.53 per cent increase year on year while the price of evaporated milk peaked at N289.29 from N234.21.

Rice which is a very common meal in the state was not left out of the hit from inflation as its price soared to N676.91 per kg from N595.65 in April 2022 which is a 13.6 per cent increase year on year.

Also, the cost of cooking gas in Lagos recorded a significant increase of 83 per cent year on year. According to NBS the average price of 12.5kg of cooking gas rose from N4, 523.81 to N8, 278.13.

Transportation within the state saw a marginal rise of 1.7 per cent year-on-year to N458.82 on a daily basis per person.