Nigeria’s inflation rate increases to 27.3% amid rising food prices

By Abubakar Yunus

The consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 27.33 percent in October 2023 — up from 26.72 percent in the previous month.
This was disclosed by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its CPI report for September, released on Tuesday.
The latest figure marks the tenth consecutive rise in the country’s inflation rate this year.
“In October 2023, the headline inflation rate increased to 27.33% relative to the September 2023 headline inflation rate which was 26.72%,” the report reads.
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“Looking at the movement, the October 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.61% points when compared to the September 2023 headline inflation rate.”
According to NBS, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.24 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in October 2022, which was 21.09 percent.
This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in October 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., October 2022).
However, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in October 2023 was 1.73 percent, which was 0.37 percent lower than the rate recorded in September 2023 (2.10 percent).
This means that in October 2023, the rate of increase in the average price level is less than the rate of increase in the average price level in September 2023.
The report further shows that the food inflation rate is at 31.52 percent caused by the increase of some food items such as bread, yam, potatoes etc.
“The Food inflation rate in October 2023 was 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 report reads.
“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, Fruit, Meat, Vegetables and Milk, Cheese and Eggs.”
On a month-on-month basis, the NBS said, food inflation rate in October 2023 was 1.91 percent, this was 0.54 percent lower compared to the rate recorded in September 2023 (2.45 percent).
The decline in food inflation on a month-over-month basis was caused by the decline in the rate of increase in the average prices of fruits, oil and fat, coffee, tea and cocoa, bread and cereals.
The report pointed that residents of Kogi, Kwara and Lagos paid the highest for food in October.
“In October 2023, Food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Kogi (41.74%), Kwara (38.48%) and Lagos (37.37%),” the report pointed.
“Borno (24.41%), Kebbi (24.90%) and Jigawa (25.10%) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis.
“On a Month- on-Month basis, however, October 2023 Food inflation was highest in Yobe (5.35%), Sokoto (3.68%) and Jigawa (3.45%), while Edo (0.95%), Katsina (1.03%) and Rivers (1.10%) recorded the slowest rise in inflation on Month-on-Month basis.”