Nigeria’s annual inflation rate climbed for the first time in three months in September, sparked by a spike in gasoline prices and severe floods in food-producing areas.
Consumer prices index (CPI) rose to 32.7% in September from 32.2% in August, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement published on its website on Tuesday, October 15.
This is the first increase in three months after the country’s inflation rate declined twice in 2024.
The Bureau said: “In September 2024, the Headline inflation rate was 32.70% relative to the August 2024 headline inflation rate of 32.15%. Looking at the movement, the September 2024 Headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.55% compared to the August 2024 Headline inflation rate.
“On a year-on-year basis, the Headline inflation rate was 5.98% points higher compared to the rate recorded in September 2023 (26.72%).
“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%, which was 0.30% higher than the rate recorded in August 2024 (2.22%).
“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 further said: “The Food inflation rate in September 2024 was 37.77% on a year-on-year basis, 7.13% points higher than the rate recorded in September 2023 (30.64%).
“The rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items: Guinea Corn, Rice, Maize, Grains, Beans, etc (Bread and Cereals Class), Yam, Water Yam, Cassava Tuber, etc (Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers Class), Beer (Local and Foreign) (Tobacco Class), Lipton, Milo, Bournvita, etc (Coffee, Tea & Cocoa Class) and Vegetable Oil, Palm Oil, etc (Oil & Fats Class).
“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in September 2024 was 2.64% which shows a 0.27% increase compared to the rate recorded in August 2024 (2.37%).
“The rise can be attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of Beer (Local and Foreign) (Tobacco Class), Vegetable Oil, Groundnut Oil, Palm Oil, etc (Oil & Fats Class), Beef, Gizzard, Dried Beef, etc (Meat Class), Lipton, Milo, Bournvita, etc (Coffee, Tea & Cocoa Class) and Milk, Egg etc (Milk, cheese, and Eggs Class).
“The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending September 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 37.53%, which was an 11.88% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in September 2023 (25.65%).”
