Nigeria’s inflation rate soars to 29.9% as food prices surge

The consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 29.9 percent in January 2024 — up from 28.92 percent in the previous month.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its CPI report for January, released on Thursday.

According to the bureau, food inflation also surged to 35.4 percent in the month under review.

The bureau said the January 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of “0.98% points when compared to the December 2023 headline inflation rate”.

“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 8.08% points higher compared to the rate recorded in January 2023, which was 21.82%,” the report reads.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in January 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., January 2023).

“Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in January 2024 was 2.64%, which was 0.35% higher than the rate recorded in December 2023 (2.29%).”

According to the NBS, this means that in January 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is more than the rate of increase in the average price level in December 2023.

FOOD INFLATION RATE ROSE TO 35.4 PERCENT

The NBS report also said the food inflation rate in January 2024 was 35.41 percent on a year-on-year basis — 11.1 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in January 2023 (24.32 percent).

According to the bureau, the rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, meat, and fruit.

“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in January 2024 was 3.21%, this was 0.49% higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2023 (2.72%),” the report said.

“The rise in the Food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis was caused by a rise in the rate of increase in the average prices of Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers, Bread and Cereals, Fish, Meat, Tobacco, and Vegetable.

“The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending January 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 28.91%, which was a 7.38% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in January 2023(21.53%).

The report also said Kogi, Kwara, and Rivers states spent more on food in January.

“In January 2024, Food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Kogi (44.18%), Kwara (40.87%), and Rivers (40.08%),” the NBS said.

On the other hand, Bauchi (28.83 percent), Adamawa (29.80 percent), and Kano (30.08 percent) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation on year-on-year basis.