Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 34.60% in November 2024, up from 33.88% in October, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
This marks a 0.72 percentage point increase in the inflation rate compared to the previous month.
On a year-on-year basis, November’s inflation rate was 6.40% higher than the 28.20% recorded in November 2023, indicating a significant rise in the overall cost of goods and services across the country.
Food inflation, which continues to be a major driver of the rising cost of living, saw an alarming year-on-year increase of 39.93% in November 2024. This represents a 7.08 percentage point jump from the 32.84% recorded in the same period last year. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation was up by 2.98%, a slight increase from October’s rate of 2.94%.
The rising food prices are attributed to significant increases in the cost of staple items such as rice, yam flour, millet, corn flour, powdered milk, fresh milk, dried and frozen meats, including fish, goat meat, and poultry. These items have become increasingly difficult for many Nigerians to afford, compounding the challenges they face in what has become one of the most severe cost-of-living crises in the country’s history.
The inflation surge follows the economic reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration, which removed fuel subsidies and floated the naira. Since May 2023, the removal of fuel subsidies led to a more than fourfold increase in petrol prices, from under N200 per litre to over N1,100 in some regions. The naira also plummeted from around N700 to N1,600 to the dollar, significantly impacting inflation and the purchasing power of Nigerians.
International financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have long advocated for the removal of fuel subsidies and the liberalization of the naira, suggesting that these measures, while painful in the short term, were necessary for long-term economic stability. However, the immediate effects of these policies have been felt acutely by Nigerians, who continue to grapple with escalating prices and a shrinking standard of living.
