The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that Nigeria’s inflation rate has dropped for two consecutive months, from 34.19% in June to 33.40% in July, and now 32.15% in August,
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the statistics office on Monday, showed that the headline inflation rate dropped to 32.15% in August 2024, while food inflation stood at 37.52% in the same month.
The agency noted that the August 2024 headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 1.25% points when compared to the July 2024 headline inflation rate.
“However, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.35% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (25.80%)”, the NBS said.
According to the agency, “On a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.22%, which was 0.06% lower than the rate recorded in August 2024 (2.28%). This means that in August 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in July 2024.”
The statistics office further stated that food inflation rate in August 2024 was 37.52% on a year-on-year basis, which was 8.18% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (29.34%).
According to the agency, the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items, bread, maize, grains, guinea corn, bread, cereals yam, Irish potatoes, water yam, cassava tuber, palm oil, vegetable oil, among others.
On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.37% which showed a 0.10% decrease compared to the rate recorded in July 2024 (2.47%).
The NBS explained that the fall could be attributed to the decline in the rate of increase in the average prices of Tobacco, Tea, Coco, Coffee, Groundnut Oil, Milk, Yam, Irish Potatoes, Water Yam, Cassava Tuber, Palm Oil, Vegetable etc.
In August 2024, food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Sokoto (46.98%), Gombe (43.25%), and Yobe (43.21%) while Benue (32.33%), Rivers (33.01%) and Bayelsa (33.36%), recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on Year-on-Year basis.
However, on a Month -on-Month basis, August 2024 Food inflation was highest in Adamawa (5.46%), Kebbi (4.48%), and Borno (3.88%), while Ogun (0.08%), Akwa-Ibom (0.45%) and Sokoto (1.00%) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on Month-on-Month basis.