Jan. 15, 2024

The country’s headline inflation rate increased to 28.92% in December 2023, relative to the November 2023 headline inflation rate of 28.20%, according to the December 2023 Consumer Price Index (CPI) reports by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Monday.

The figures released shows an increase of 0.72% points when compared to the November 2023 headline inflation rate.

On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 7.58% points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022, which was 21.34%. This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in December 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., December 2022).

Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in December 2023 was 2.29%, which was 0.20% higher than the rate recorded in November 2023 (2.09%). This means that in December 2023, the rate of increase in the average price level is more than the rate of increase in the average price level in November 2023.

However, the Food inflation rate in December 2023 was 33.93% on a year-on-year basis, which was 10.18% points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022 (23.75%).

The rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Oil and fat, Potatoes, Yam and other Tubers, Fish, Meat, Fruit, Milk, Cheese, and Egg.

On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in December 2023 was 2.72%, this was 0.30% higher compared to the rate recorded in November 2023 (2.42%).

The rise in Food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis was caused by a rise in the rate of increase in the average prices of Oil and fat, Meat, Bread and Cereals, Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers, Fish and Milk, Cheese, and Egg.

The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending December 2023 over the previous twelve-month average was 27.96%, which was a 7.02% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in December 2022 (20.94%).

The report noted further that food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Kogi (44.73%), Kwara (41.33%), and Imo (39.54%), while Bauchi (27.49%), Jigawa (27.98%) and Sokoto (28.72%) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on Year-on-Year basis. On a Month-on -Month basis, however, December 2023 Food inflation was highest in Bayelsa (4.42%), Ogun (4.11%), and Enugu (4.03%), while Nasarawa (1.48%), Delta (1.65%) and Niger (1.67%) recorded the slowest rise in inflation on Month-on-Month basis.