By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s headline inflation increased by 0.72 per cent to 28.92 per cent in December 2023 from 28.20 per cent in November 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a report released on Monday.
Business Post reports that this is the highest level of the average cost of goods and services since 1997, under the regime of the late General Sani Abacha.
The stats office said today that on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 7.58 per cent higher than the 21.34 per cent recorded in December 2022.
The rise in inflation aligned with trends in the festive season, a period known for a jump in prices. However, the removal of fuel subsidies and the unification of exchange rates has seen the prices of goods and services skyrocket.
Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in the period under review was 2.29 per cent, which was 0.2 per cent higher than the rate recorded in November 2023 (2.09 per cent). This means that in December 2023, the rate of increase in the average price level was more than the rate of increase in the average price level in November 2023.
Giving a breakdown, on a yearly basis, it was noted that Food and Non-alcoholic beverages contributed 14.98 per cent to the headline index. This was followed by Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels with 4.84 per cent, and Clothing and Footwear saw a 2.21 per cent contribution.
Transport added 1.88 per cent while Furnishings, Household Equipment and Maintenance added 1.45 per cent and Education saw a 1.14 per cent rise. Others like Health, Miscellaneous Goods and Services among others saw less than 1 per cent contribution respectively.
The NBS showed that Nigeria’s food inflation rate in December 2023 was 33.93 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 10.18 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in December 2022 (23.75 per cent).
The rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of oil and fat, bread, cereals, potatoes, yam, and other tubers, as well as contributions from fish, fruit, meat, vegetables milk, cheese, and eggs.
On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate was 2.72 per cent, this was 0.3 per cent higher compared to the rate recorded in November 2023 (2.42 per cent). The rise in food inflation on a month-on-month basis was caused by an increase in the average prices of potatoes, yam and other tubers, bread and cereals, fruits, and fish.
The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending December 2023 over the previous twelve-month average was 27.96 per cent, which was 7.02 per cent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in the same period of 2022 (20.94 per cent).
While urban inflation was 31.0 per cent, rural inflation came in at 27.1 per cent in December 2023.
Dipo Olowookere 
Modupe Gbadeyanka