Nigeria’s inflation rate rises to 32.7%

Nigeria’s inflation rate climbed to 32.7% in September, marking a reversal from a two-month decline where it had dipped to 32.15% in August.

The increase was primarily driven by a month-on-month surge in food inflation, which rose to 2.64% from 2.37%.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed these figures in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for September, indicating persistent economic pressures that continue to impact consumers across the country.

This spike in inflation underscores the challenges facing Nigeria’s economy, particularly in the food sector, where rising prices are contributing significantly to the overall inflationary trend.

The Bureau said: “In September 2024, the Headline inflation rate was 32.70% relative to the August 2024 headline inflation rate of 32.15%. Looking at the movement, the September 2024 Headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.55% compared to the August 2024 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%).

“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
The NBS further said: “The Food inflation rate in September 2024 was 37.77% on a year-on-year basis, 7.13% points higher than the rate recorded in September 2023 (30.64%).

“ The rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items: Guinea Corn, Rice, Maize

Grains, Beans, etc (Bread and Cereals Class), Yam, Water Yam, Cassava Tuber, etc (Potatoes, Yam
& Other Tubers Class), Beer (Local and Foreign) (Tobacco Class), Lipton, Milo, Bournvita, etc
(Coffee, Tea & Cocoa Class) and Vegetable Oil, Palm Oil, etc (Oil & 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 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 an 11.88% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in September 2023 (25.65%).”