By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The inflation rate in Nigeria increased by 31.70 per cent in February 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a report on Friday.
This is 1.80 per cent higher than the 29.90 per cent recorded in January 2024, the agency’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) for February 2024 released this afternoon noted.
The CPI measures the average change over time in the prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living.
In the report on Friday, the NBS said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 9.79 per cent higher than the 21.91 per cent recorded in February 2023, and on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate at 3.12 per cent in February 2024 was 0.48 per cent higher than the 2.64 per cent achieved in January 2024, implying that the rate of increase in the average price level was more than the rate of increase in the average price level in January 2024.
In the period under review, urban inflation rose by 33.66 per cent on a year-on-year basis from 22.78 per cent in February 2023, and on a month-on-month basis, it jumped by 0.45 per cent to 3.17 per cent from 2.72 per cent in January 2024.
The stats office also said the rural inflation rate in February 2024 was 29.99 per cent on a year-on-year basis versus 21.10 per cent in February 2023 and rose by 3.07 per cent on a month-on-month basis last month from 2.57 per cent in the preceding month.
As for the food inflation, it increased by 37.92 per cent in February 2024 on a year-on-year basis versus 24.35 per cent in the same period of last year as a result of increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Potatoes, Yam and other Tubers, Fish, Oil and fat, Meat, Fruit, Coffee, Tea, and Cocoa.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Adedapo Adesanya