Nigeria’s inflation rate surged to 33.88% in October 2024, up from 32.70% in September, according to the Consumer Price Index report released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
This represents a month-on-month increase of 1.18 percentage points.
On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate in October 2024 was 6.55 percentage points higher than the 27.33% recorded in October 2023.
“On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in October 2024 was 2.64 per cent, which was 0.12 per cent higher than the rate recorded in September 2024 (2.52 per cent).
“This means that in October 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level was higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in September 2024,” the executive summary of the report partly read.
On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in October 2024 stood at 2.94%, reflecting a 0.30 percentage point increase from the 2.64% recorded in September 2024.
“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 twelve months ending October 2024 over the previous twelve-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 report read.
Before the data was released, some analysts had predicted that Nigeria’s inflation rate for October would increase to 33.48%, up from 32.70% in September.
Nigeria’s inflation has seen significant fluctuations throughout 2024, driven by a combination of factors.
The persistent rise was mainly due to sharp increases in food and transportation costs, triggered by the removal of fuel subsidies, ongoing naira depreciation, and disruptions caused by insecurity and flooding in the agricultural regions.
Earlier in the year, inflation surged to 33.2% in March, up from 31.7% in February. June saw a peak at 34.19%, the highest in nearly 30 years, before slightly easing in the following months due to the seasonal harvests.
However, inflation began to rise again in September, primarily driven by higher energy costs. Petrol prices increased from N980 to approximately N1,050 per litre in Lagos, with prices even higher in other states.
