Rising food costs push Nigeria’s inflation rate to 28.9%

The consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 28.92 percent in December 2023 — up from 28.20 percent in the previous month.

This was disclosed by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its CPI report for December released on Monday.

The latest figure marks the twentieth consecutive rise in the country’s inflation rate in 2023.

The bureau said the December 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of “0.72% points when compared to the November 2023 headline inflation rate”.

“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 7.58% points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022, which was 21.34%,” the report reads.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in December 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., December 2022).”

On a month-on-month basis, according to the NBS, the headline inflation rate in December 2023 was 2.29 percent, which was” 0.20 percent higher than the rate recorded in November 2023 (2.09 percent)”.

This means that in December 2023, the rate of increase in the average price level is more than what was recorded in the previous month.

FOOD INFLATION RATE ROSE TO 33.9 PERCENT

The NBS report also said the food inflation rate in December 2023 was 33.93 percent on a year-on-year basis — 10.18 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022 (23.75 percent).

According to the bureau, the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, meat, fruit, milk, cheese, and egg.

“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in December 2023 was 2.72%, this was 0.30% higher compared to the rate recorded in November 2023 (2.42%),” the agency said.

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

“The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending December 2023 over the previous twelve-month average was 27.96%, which was a 7.02% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in December 2022 (20.94%).”

“In December 2023, Food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Kogi (44.73%), Kwara (41.33%), and Imo (39.54%), while Bauchi (27.49%), Jigawa (27.98%) and Sokoto (28.72%) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on Year-on-Year basis.

“On a Month-on -Month basis, however, December 2023 Food inflation was highest in Bayelsa (4.42%), Ogun (4.11%), and Enugu (4.03%), while Nasarawa (1.48%), Delta (1.65%) and Niger (1.67%) recorded the slowest rise in inflation on Month-on-Month basis.”