Nigeria’s November 2024 headline inflation rate has soared to 34.60 per cent. This 0.41 per cent higher than the rate in June 2024 which was 34.19 per cent.
Nigeria’s inflation maintained an over 19 months consistent rise till July 2024 when it slowed to 33.40 per cent and further down to 32.15 per cent in August.
It however resumed its upwards movement in September when it hit 32.70 per cent.
Food inflation has also not shown any sign of easing as it rose from 39.16 per cent in October to 39.93 per cent in November.
Looking at the movement, the November 2024 Headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.72 per cent points compared to the October 2024 Headline inflation rate.
On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.40 per cent higher than the rate recorded in November 2023 which was 28.20 per cent.
According to the NBS, this shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in November 2024 compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., November 2023).
Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in November 2024 was 2.638 per cent, which was 0.002 per cent lower than the rate recorded in October 2024, 2.640 per cent. This means that in November 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is slightly lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in October 2024.
The NBS report blamed the increase in headline inflation index for November 2024 on the rise in the average prices of some items in the basket of goods and services at the divisional level.
It said the increases were observed in food and non-alcoholic beverages which rose by 17.92 per cent, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel, with 5.79 per cent, clothing and footwear, 2.65 per cent, transport, 2.25 per cent, furnishing and household equipment and maintenance, 1.74 per cent, and education, 1.36 per cent.
Others are miscellaneous goods and services, 0m58 per cent, restaurants and hotels, 0.42 per cent, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and kola, 0.38 per cent, recreation and culture, 0.24 per cent and communication, 0.24 per cent. For Food inflation, rate in November 2024 was 39.93 per cent on a year-on-year basis, 7.08 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in November 2023 (32.84 per cent). The rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items Yam, Water Yam, Coco Yam, etc (Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers Class), Guinea Corn, Maize Grains, Rice, etc (Bread and Cereals Class), Beer, Pinto (Tobacco Class), and Palm Oil, Vegetable Oil, etc (Oil and Fats Class).
Likewise, on a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in November 2024 was 2.98 pet cent which shows a 0.05 per cent increase compared to the rate recorded in October 2024 (2.94 per cent).
The rise can be attributed to the rate of increase in the average prices of Mudfish, Catfish Dried, Dried Fish Sardine, etc (Fish Class), Rice, Yam Flour, Millet Whole grain, Corn flour, etc (Bread and Cereals Class), Agric Egg, Powdered Milk, Fresh Milk, etc (Milk, cheese and eggs Class) and Dried Beef, Goat Meat, Frozen Chicken, etc (Meat Class)
The average annual rate of Food inflation for the 12 months ending November 2024 over the previous 12-month average was 38.67 per cent, which was 11.58 per cent lower compared with the average annual rate of change recorded in November 2023 (27.09 per cent).