Nigeria’s inflation rate has shown signs of easing for the second consecutive month, according to the latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The Consumer Price Index report released on Monday highlights a decline in the headline inflation rate from 34.19% in June to 33.40% in July, and further down to 32.15% in August 2024.
The NBS noted that the August 2024 headline inflation rate decreased by 1.25 percentage points from July 2024. However, on a year-on-year basis, the rate remains significantly higher, up by 6.35 percentage points compared to August 2023, which recorded a rate of 25.80%.
On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.22%, a slight decrease from July 2024’s 2.28%. This indicates a slower rate of increase in the average price level compared to the previous month.
Food inflation has also seen notable changes. In August 2024, the food inflation rate stood at 37.52%, which is 8.18 percentage points higher than the 29.34% recorded in August 2023. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation in August was 2.37%, a decrease of 0.10 percentage points from July 2024’s rate of 2.47%.
The NBS attributed this decline to slower increases in the prices of items such as tobacco, tea, cocoa, coffee, groundnut oil, milk, yam, Irish potatoes, water yam, cassava tuber, palm oil, and vegetable oil.
Regionally, food inflation was highest on a year-on-year basis in Sokoto (46.98%), Gombe (43.25%), and Yobe (43.21%). Conversely, Benue (32.33%), Rivers (33.01%), and Bayelsa (33.36%) experienced the slowest year-on-year increases in food inflation.
On a month-on-month basis, the highest food inflation rates were recorded in Adamawa (5.46%), Kebbi (4.48%), and Borno (3.88%), while Ogun (0.08%), Akwa-Ibom (0.45%), and Sokoto (1.00%) saw the slowest rises.
