Nigeria’s inflation, which had been on a brief downward trend, has reversed course as the latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed an increase in the headline inflation rate to 32.70% in September 2024.
This marks a 0.55 percentage point rise from the 32.15% recorded in the previous month.
A significant driver of this inflationary pressure was food inflation, which surged to 37.77% in September 2024 on a year-on-year basis. This figure is 7.13 percentage points higher than the 30.64% recorded in the same period in 2023.
The NBS attributed the rising food inflation to sharp price increases in key staple items, including guinea corn, rice, maize grains, beans, bread, and yam tubers.
On a month-on-month basis, food inflation stood at 2.64% in September 2024, a 0.27 percentage point increase from the 2.37% reported in August 2024. The average annual food inflation rate for the 12-month period ending in September 2024 rose to 37.53%, representing a significant 11.88 percentage point jump from the 25.65% annual average recorded in September 2023.
Government policies, particularly the removal of the gasoline subsidy and the decision to float the local currency, have been cited as major contributors to rising inflation. These policies have led to soaring prices of essential commodities, with petrol now retailing between N1,030 and N1,300 per litre.
In urban areas, inflation reached 35.13% in September 2024, up by 6.46 percentage points compared to the 28.68% recorded in September 2023. On a month-on-month basis, urban inflation was 2.67%, a slight rise from the 2.39% reported in August 2024. The 12-month average urban inflation rate was 33.95% in September 2024, 9.84 percentage points higher than the 24.10% recorded in September 2023.
Rural inflation followed a similar trend, with a year-on-year rate of 30.49% in September 2024, marking a 5.55 percentage point increase from the 24.94% recorded in the previous year. Month-on-month, rural inflation was 2.39%, up by 0.33 percentage points from the 2.06% seen in August 2024.
The corresponding 12-month average rural inflation rate rose to 29.76%, which was 7.97 percentage points higher than the 21.79% recorded in September 2023.
