Nigeria’s Inflation Rate rises to 27.3% in October
(Business Africa Digest)- Nigeria’s inflation rate went up to 27.3% in October from 26.7% a month earlier, Nigeria’s apex Statistical agency said Wednesday.
The development marks the 10th consecutive month of rising inflation amid rising food prices.
Looking at the headline trend, the October 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.61% points when compared to the September 2023 headline inflation rate.
Similarly, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.24% points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022, which was (21.09%).
The increase in the headline index for October 2023 was attributed to the increase in some items in the basket of goods and services at the divisional level. These increases were observed in Food and non-alcoholic Beverages (14.16%), Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & other Fuel (4.57%), Clothing & Footwear (2.09%), Transport (1.78%), Furnishings & Household Equipment and maintenance (1.37%), Education (1.08%) and Health (0.82%). Others are Miscellaneous Goods & Services (0.45%), Restaurants & Hotels (0.33%), Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco & Kola (0.30%), Recreation & Culture (0.19%) and Communication (0.19%).
However, on a month-over-month basis, the headline inflation rate in October 2023 stood at 1.73%, which shows that the rate of increase in the average price level was less than that of the preceding month by 0.37% when compared to the rate recorded in September 2023 (2.10%).
The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months ending October 2023 over the average of the CPI for the previous corresponding twelve-month period was 23.44%, showing a 5.57% increase compared to 17.86% recorded in October 2022.
The Food sub-index for October 2023 increased to 31.52% on a year-on-year basis, which was 7.80% points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022 (23.72%). The rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was attributed to increases in prices of Bread & cereals, Oil & fat, Potatoes, Yam & other Tubers, Fish, Fruit, Meat, Vegetables and Milk, Cheese, and Eggs.
However, on a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in October 2023 was 1.91%. This was 0.54% lower compared to the rate recorded in September 2023 (2.45%). The decline in Food inflation was caused by a decrease in the average prices of Fruits, Oil and fat, Coffee, Tea and Cocoa, Bread and Cereals.
The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending October 2023 over the previous twelve-month average was 26.33%, which was a 6.50% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in October 2022 (19.83%).
