Rising Food Prices Drives Inflation Rate in Nigeria to 29.9%, the Highest in Five Years

In January 2024, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 29.90 per cent relative to the December 2023 headline inflation rate which was 28.92 per cent.

The January 2024 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.98 per cent points when compared to the December 2023 headline inflation rate. The inflation was triggered by food inflation.

The food inflation rate in January 2024 was 35.41 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 11.10 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in January 2023 (24.32%). The rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Potatoes, Yam and other tubers, oil and fat, fish, meat, fruit, coffee, tea, and cocoa, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 8.08% points higher compared to the rate recorded in January 2023, which was 21.82 per cent.

This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in January 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e. January 2023).

On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in January 2024 was 2.64 per cent, which was 0.35 per cent higher than the rate recorded in December 2023 (2.29%).