From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
The Statistician-General of the Federation (SG), Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, announced today that inflation in November 2024 rose to 34.60 per cent, up from 33.88 per cent in October 2024, due to an increase in food inflation.
These figures were contained in the SG’s statement on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November 2024.
According to him, the November 2024 headline inflation rate increased by 0.72 percentage points compared to October 2024. On a year-on-year basis, it was 6.40 percentage points higher than the 28.20 per cent recorded in November 2023.
Citing the November 2024 CPI survey, Adeniran noted that the rise in the headline index was attributed to the increase in the average prices of various items in the basket of goods and services across different divisions.
“These increases were observed in food and non-alcoholic beverages (17.92 per cent); housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuel (5.79 per cent); clothing & footwear (2.65 per cent); transport (2.25 per cent); furnishings & household equipment & maintenance (1.74 per cent); education (1.36 per cent); and health (1.04 per cent). Miscellaneous goods & services (0.58 per cent); restaurants & hotels (0.42 per cent); alcoholic beverages, tobacco & kola (0.38 per cent); recreation & culture (0.24 per cent); and communication (0.24 per cent)” he explained.
On a month-over-month basis, the headline inflation rate for November 2024 was 2.638 per cent, slightly lower by 0.002 per cent compared to October 2024’s 2.640 per cent.
“This means that in November 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level was slightly lower than in October 2024. The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending November 2024 over the previous twelve-month period was 32.77 per cent, showing an 8.76 percentage point increase compared to 24.01 per cent in November 2023,” Adeniran added.
Food Inflation Analysis
The food inflation rate in November 2024 stood at 39.93 per cent on a year-on-year basis, 7.08 percentage points higher than the 32.84 per cent recorded in November 2023. This increase was driven by rising prices of items such as yam, water yam, cocoyam, guinea corn, maize grains, rice, palm oil, vegetable oil, and other staples across categories like tubers, bread and cereals, tobacco, and oils and fats.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation rose to 2.98 per cent in November 2024, a 0.05 percentage point increase from the 2.94 per cent recorded in October 2024. This rise was attributed to price increases in fish products (such as mudfish and dried sardines), grains (such as millet and corn flour), dairy products (like powdered and fresh milk), and meat (such as dried beef, goat meat, and frozen chicken).
The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending November 2024 was 38.67 per cent, which was 11.58 percentage points higher than the 27.09 per cent recorded in November 2023, Adeniran concluded.