ABUJA, May 15 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s headline consumer inflation NGCPIY=ECIaccelerated to a new 28-year high in April, hitting 33.69% year-on-year, up from 33.20% in March, statistics agency data showed on Wednesday.

Inflation in Africa’s most populous nation has been spurred by President Bola Tinubu’s administration slashing petrol and electricity subsidies and twice devaluing the local naira currency NGN=D1.

The central bank has raised interest rates twice this year, including its largest hike in around 17 years, as it struggles to contain the price pressures.

The central bank governor has indicated that rates will stay high for as long as needed to bring down inflation. The bank holds another rate-setting meeting next week.

Areport by the National Bureau of Statistics showed the food and non-alcoholic beverages category continued to be the biggest contributor to inflation in April.

Food inflation NGFINF=ECI, which accounts for the bulk of the inflation basket, reached 40.53% in annual terms, against 40.01% in March.

Price pressures have left millions of Nigerians grappling with the worst cost of living crisis in decades as they struggle to meet their basic needs.

To ease the pressure on government workers, Tinubu has announced a salary hike of up to 35% for civil servants. To help vulnerable households his government has also restarted a direct cash transfer programme and has distributed at least 42,000 tons of grains such as corn and millet.

(Reporting by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Additional reporting by Mohd Edrees; Editing by Alexander Winning and Gareth Jones)