Nigeria’s inflation rate climbed to 33.88% in October 2024, an increase from the 32.7% recorded in September, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
This is a sustained rise in inflation for the second consecutive month, further tightening the financial stress on citizens already struggling with high living costs.
Food Prices and Transportation Costs Drive Inflation
The surge in inflation partly results from transportation expenses and higher food prices. On a year-on-year basis, the October inflation rate was 6.55 percentage points higher than the 27.33% registered in the same month last year.
Food inflation, a critical component of the CPI, reached 39.16%, representing a steep 7.64 percentage point rise compared to October 2023.
Month-on-month, food prices climbed by 2.94% in October, up from 2.64% in September, driven by rising costs of staples such as vegetable oils, meat products, and popular beverages like Lipton and Milo.
Core Inflation Highlights
Core inflation, which excludes volatile items like food and energy, stood at 28.37% year-on-year in October, reflecting an increase of 5.79 percentage points from the 22.58% recorded in October 2023.
Items contributing significantly to this category included transportation services, rents, dining out, and personal grooming services. Month-on-month, the core inflation rate edged up slightly to 2.14% in October from 2.10% in September.
Urban vs Rural Inflation
Inflation dynamics varied across urban and rural areas. In urban regions, the inflation rate rose to 36.38% year-on-year in October, up from 29.29% a year earlier. Month-on-month, urban inflation climbed to 2.75%, slightly higher than September’s 2.67%.
Rural inflation also experienced an uptick, reaching 31.59% year-on-year, compared to 25.58% in October 2023. Month-on-month, rural inflation was recorded at 2.53%, up from 2.39% in September.
The rise in Nigeria’s inflation comes as ongoing economic reforms initiated by President Bola Tinubu’s administration are put in place.
Key policies, including the devaluation of the naira and the removal of fuel subsidies, were aimed at stabilising public finances and spurring economic growth but have inadvertently worsened inflationary pressures.
While these measures initially led to a slowdown in inflation earlier this year, recent increases in fuel prices have reversed that trend, prolonging the cost-of-living crisis.
In response to these inflationary pressures, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has implemented five interest rate hikes this year in an attempt to curb inflation.
The next Monetary Policy Committee meeting later this month is expected to further address these challenges, as the government tries to find a balance between fiscal reforms and economic stability.
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