From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
Nigeria’s headline inflation maintained the upward climb, hitting an all-time high of 28.92 per cent in December last year. It was 28.20 per cent in November 2023.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), who blamed food prices as the major cause of the increase, noted that food inflation rate in December 2023 was 33.93 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was
10.18 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022 (23.75 per cent).
“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, 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 per cent. This
was 0.30 per cent higher compared to the rate recorded in November 2023 (2.42 per cent). 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 per cent, which was a 7.02 per cent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in December 2022 (20.94 per cent)” the bureau explained.
According to NBS, looking at the movement, the December 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.72 per cent points when compared to the November 2023 headline inflation rate.
“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 7.58 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022, which was 21.34 per cent. 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).