Nigeria’s annual inflation rate climbed further to a near 28-year high of 29.9% in January 2024, up from 28.9% in December and above market forecasts of 29.5%.
According to reports from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Thursday, the January 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.98% points when compared to the December 2023 headline inflation rate.
Food inflation, which accounts for the bulk of Nigeria’s inflation basket, quickened again to 35.4% in January from 33.9% a month earlier, with higher prices across a broad range of items including bread, fish, meat, fruit, and eggs.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices inched up by 2.6% in January, the most in five months, following a 2.3% rise in the previous month.
In Nigeria, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the change over time in prices of 740 goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living.
The index weights are based on the expenditures of both urban and rural households in the 36 states.
“In January 2024, the headline inflation rate increased to 29.90% relative to the December 2023 headline inflation rate, which was 28.92%. Looking at the movement, the January 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.98% points when compared to the December 2023 headline inflation rate.
“Similarly, 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%.”
“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%).
“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,” the statement said.
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