Nigeria’s inflation rate has risen to 33.88% in October 2024, up from 32.7% in September 2024.
According to the latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), this rise in inflation is mainly due to higher costs in transportation and food prices.
Examining the inflation rate compared to the same time last year shows a steep rise. The rate of 33.88% in October 2024 is 6.55 percentage points higher than the 27.33% recorded in October 2023.
Meanwhile examining the inflation rate month-to-month, the data shows a smaller but still notable increase. The rate in October 2024 was 2.64% on a month-on-month basis, which is a rise of 0.12% from the 2.52% recorded in September 2024.
The cost of food has also increased significantly. In October 2024, the food inflation rate stood at 39.16% year-on-year, which is a 7.64 percentage point rise from the 31.52% recorded in October 2023. On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate increased by 0.30% to 2.94%, up from the 2.64% recorded in September 2024.
This rise in food prices is being driven by higher costs for items such as local and foreign beer, vegetable oils, groundnut oil, and palm oil. Prices for meats like beef and gizzard, as well as products like Lipton, Milo, and Bournvita, have also gone up. The average annual food inflation rate for the twelve months ending in October 2024 was 38.12%, which is an 11.79 percentage point increase from the 26.33% recorded in October 2023.
