UPDATED: Nigeria’s inflation rate rises again

The Food inflation rate in November 2024 was 39.93 per cent on a year-on-year basis, 7.08 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in November 2023.

Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose to 34.60 per cent in November from 33.88 per cent in October, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.

This marks a continuation of the upward trend observed in September, when the nation recorded a reversal of a two-month decline.

The statistics office said the November 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.72 per cent points compared to the October 2024 headline inflation rate.

On a year-on-year basis, the NBS said the headline inflation rate was 6.40 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in November 2023 (28.20 per cent).

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

“Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in November 2024 was 2.638 per cent, which was 0.002 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in October 2024 (2.640 per cent),” it said.

This, it said, means that in November 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is slightly lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in October 2024.

According to the report, the food inflation rate in November 2024 was 39.93 per cent on a year-on-year basis, 7.08 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in November 2023 (32.84 per cent).

The persistent rise in inflation has intensified concerns over its impact on purchasing power, with food and energy costs continuing to be major sources of pressure.

Nigeria has experienced a sharp increase in food prices in recent years, a trend that worsened in 2023 following President Bola Tinubu’s removal of petrol subsidies and the adoption of a floating exchange rate for the naira.

This shift has led to a steep increase in the cost of staple food, pushing many Nigerians further into poverty and heightening food insecurity.

The persistent surge in prices over the past year has led to the closure of several farms and businesses, with many agricultural producers scaling back their output due to insecurity and unpredictable weather conditions affecting rural areas.

In response, Mr Tinubu declared a state of emergency on food insecurity in July last year, aiming to combat rising food costs. Despite these efforts, food inflation has continued unabated.

In July, Mr Tinubu unveiled some proactive measures meant to address skyrocketing food prices in the country. Amongst it, is the decision to suspend duties, tariffs, and taxes on the importation of essential food items such as beans, wheat, and husked brown rice.

However, despite these interventions, food inflation has shown little sign of easing.

Breakdown

In its inflation report Monday, the NBS said the contributions of items on the divisional year-on-year level to the increase in the headline index are food & non-alcoholic beverages (17.92 per cent), housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuel (5.79 per cent), clothing & footwear (2.65 per cent), and transport (2.25 per cent),.

Others are furnishings & household equipment & maintenance (1.74 per cent), education (1.36 per cent), health (1.04 per cent), miscellaneous goods & services (0.58 per cent), restaurant & hotels (0.42 per cent), alcoholic beverage, tobacco & kola (0.38 per cent), recreation & culture (0.24 per cent) and communication (0.24 per cent).

The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending November 2024 over the average for the previous twelve-month period was 32.77 per cent, showing 8.76 per cent points increase compared to 24.01 per cent recorded in November 2023.

Food inflation

The NBS said the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items; yam, water yam, coco yam, etc (potatoes, yam & other tubers class), guinea corn, maize grains, rice, etc (bread and cereals class), beer, pinto (tobacco class), and palm oil, vegetable oil, etc (oil and fats class).

On a month-on-month basis, the bureau explained that the food inflation rate in November 2024 was 2.98 per cent which shows 0.05 per cent points increase compared to the rate recorded in October 2024 (2.94 per cent).

“The rise is attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of mudfish, catfish dried, dried fish sardine, etc (fish class), rice, yam flour, millet whole grain, corn flour, etc (bread and cereals class), agric egg, powdered milk, fresh milk, etc (milk, cheese and eggs class) and dried beef, goat meat, frozen chicken, etc (meat class).

“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending November 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 38.67 per cent, which was 11.58 per cent points higher compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in November 2023 (27.09 per cent),” the report said.