From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has said that October inflation has hit 33.88 per cent, relative to the September 2024 headline inflation rate of 32.70 per cent.
The survey attributed the rise to the high cost of food items.
According to NBS, food inflation rate in October 2024 was 39.16 per cent on a year-on-year basis, 7.64 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2023 (31.52 per cent).
“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, (bread and cereals class), yam, water yam, cocoyam, etc (potatoes, yam & other tubers class); palm oil, vegetable oil, etc (oil and fats class) and milo, lipton, bournvita, etc (coffee, tea & cocoa class).
“On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in October 2024 was 2.94 per cent which shows a 0.30 per cent increase compared to the rate recorded in September 2024 (2.64 per cent). The rise can be attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of palm oil, vegetable oil, etc (oil & fats class); mudfish, croaker (apo); fresh fish (obokun), etc (fish class); dried beef, goat meat, mutton, skin meat, etc (meat class), and bread, guinea corn flour, plantain flour, rice, etc (bread and cereals class).
The average annual rate of food inflation for the 12 months ending October 2024 over the previous 12-month average was 38.12 per cent, which was an 11.79 per cent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in October 2023 (26.33 per cent),” the NBS said.