Nigeria’s headline inflation rose to 32.70 per cent in September, 2024.
This shows a reverse of the slowing inflation rate in the previous two months of July and August, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report from the National Bureau of Statistics.
The World Bank projected that Nigeria would experience a further rise in inflation rates in September 2024, largely driven by a significant hike in the price of petrol.
The latest inflation figure is a marginal increase of 0.55 per cent from the August 2024 figure of 32.15 per cent, reflecting ongoing price pressures across the country.
Year-on-year, inflation has surged by 5.98 percentage points compared to the 26.72 per cent recorded in September 2023.
The report read,
“In September 2024, the Headline inflation rate was 32.70 per cet relative to the August 2024 headline inflation rate of 32.15 per cent. Looking at the movement, the September 2024 Headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.55 per cent compared to the August 2024 Headline inflation rate.
“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 5.98 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in September 2023 (26.72 per cent). This shows that the Headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in September 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., September 2023).
“Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in September 2024 was 2.52 per cent, which was 0.30 per cent higher than the rate recorded in August 2024 (2.22 per cent). This means that in September 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is higher than the rate of increase in the average price level in August 2024.”
The NBS report also noted that food prices remain a key driver of inflation, with the food inflation rate climbing to 37.77 per cent in September 2024, a notable rise of 7.13 per cent from the 30.64 per cent recorded in the same period last year.
The increase in food inflation is largely attributed to rising prices of staples such as rice, maize, beans, and yams. Month-on-month, the food inflation rate also increased to 2.64 per cent in September 2024, up from 2.37 per cent in August.
Inflation is more pronounced in urban areas than rural regions, with urban inflation rising to 35.13 per cent in September 2024, up from 28.68 per cent in the previous year. In rural areas, the inflation rate reached 30.49 per cent, compared to 24.94 per cent in September 2023. Month-on-month, urban inflation stood at 2.67 per cent, while rural inflation was recorded at 2.39 per cent.
Among the states, Bauchi recorded the highest year-on-year inflation rate at 44.83 per cent, followed by Sokoto (38.74 per cent) and Jigawa (38.39 per cent). Conversely, Delta (26.35 per cent), Benue (26.90 per cent), and Katsina (27.71 per cent) experienced the slowest inflation rise.
On a month-on-month basis, Sokoto saw the sharpest increase at 4.63 per cent, with Taraba (4.07 per cent) and Anambra (3.74 per cent) also showing significant rises.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural products and energy prices, rose to 27.43 per cent in September 2024, a 5.59 per cent increase compared to the 21.84 per cent recorded in September 2023. Significant price increases were observed in housing rentals, transport, and medical services.
The rise in inflation occurred after a consecutive drop, which was triggered by a decrease in food prices following the harvest period in Nigeria.
