Nigeria’s inflation rate rises to 33.88% in October

Nigeria’s headline inflation surged to 33.88% in October 2024, rising from 32.7% in September, marking a 1.18 percentage point increase month-on-month.

The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday reveals the concerning trend.

The NBS attributes the inflation spike to escalating transportation costs and soaring food prices, both contributing significantly to the financial strain on households. On a year-on-year basis, the inflation rate increased by 6.55 percentage points from 27.33% in October 2023, underlining the persistent upward pressure on prices over the past year.

Additionally, the report highlighted that, on a month-to-month comparison, the inflation rate for October 2024 was 2.64%, slightly higher by 0.12 percentage points from 2.52% in September 2024.

This suggests that the pace of price increases in October outstripped that of the previous month, indicating mounting economic challenges for consumers nationwide.

Food inflation

According to the NBS, the food inflation rate in October 2024 was 39.16% on a year-on-year basis, 7.64% points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2023 (31.52%).

The rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was attributed to increases in prices of the following items: Guinea Corn, Rice, Maize Grains, Rice, etc (Bread and Cereals Class), Yam, Water Yam, Coco Yam, etc (Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers Class), Palm Oil, Vegetable Oil, etc (Oil and Fats Class) and Milo Lipton,
Bourvita, etc (Coffee, Tea & Cocoa Class).

On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in October 2024 was 2.94% which shows a 0.30% increase compared to the rate recorded in September 2024 (2.64%).

The rise can be attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of Palm Oil, Vegetable oil, etc (Oil & Fats Class), Mudfish, Croaker (Apo), Fresh fish (Obokun), etc (Fish Class), Dried Beef, Goat Meat, Mutton, Skin meat, etc (Meat Class), and Bread, Guinea Corn flour, Plantain flour, Rice, etc (Bread
and Cereals Class).

The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending October 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 38.12%, which was an 11.79% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in October 2023 (26.33%).