Nigeria’s inflation rate rises to 32.7% — first increase in three months

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 32.7 percent in September.

This is the first increase in three months after the country’s inflation rate declined twice (August and July) in 2024.

The latest inflation data is contained in the NBS CPI report for September, released on Tuesday.

The NBS said the CPI increased by 0.55 percent (month-on month) compared to the August headline inflation rate.

“On a year-on-year basis, the Headline inflation rate was 5.98% points higher compared to the rate recorded in September 2023 (26.72%),” the report reads.

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

“Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in September 2024 was 2.52%, which was 0.30% higher than the rate recorded in August 2024 (2.22%).

“This means that in September 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in August 2024.”

‘FOOD INFLATION INCREASED TO 37.7%’

The bureau said the food inflation rate in September was 37.77 percent on a year-on-year basis — 7.13 percent higher than the rate recorded in September 2023 (30.64 percent).

According to the agency, the rise in food inflation, on a year-on-year basis, was caused by increases in prices of guinea corn, rice, maize grains, beans (Bread and Cereals Class), yam, water yam, cassava tuber, (potatoes, yam and other tubers class).

Other items include beer (local and foreign) tobacco class, Lipton, Milo, Bournvita, (coffee, tea and cocoa class) and vegetable oil, palm oil (oil and fats class).

“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in September 2024 was 2.64% which shows a 0.27% increase compared to the rate recorded in August 2024 (2.37%),” the NBS said.

“The rise can be attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of Beer (Local and Foreign) (Tobacco Class), Vegetable Oil, Groundnut Oil, Palm Oil, etc (Oil & Fats Class), Beef, Gizzard, Dried Beef, etc (Meat Class), Lipton, Milo, Bournvita, etc (Coffee, Tea & Cocoa Class) and Milk, Egg etc (Milk, cheese and Eggs Class).

“The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending September 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 37.53%, which was 11.88% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in September 2023 (25.65%).”

On state analysis, the data body said food inflation rose the highest in Bauchi (44.83 percent), Sokoto (38.74 percent), and Jigawa (38.39 percent).

On the other hand, Delta (26.35 percent), Benue (26.90 percent) and Katsina (27.71 percent) spent the lowest on food in September on a year-on-year basis.

According to the NBS, Sokoto (4.63 percent), Taraba (4.07 percent), and Anambra (3.74 percent) recorded the highest food inflation on month-on-month analysis.

However, the NBS said states such as Kwara (1.45 percent), Cross River (1.75 percent) and Lagos (1.82 percent) recorded the slowest rise in food inflation.