Joy Agwunobi
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has announced that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate dropped to 24.48 per cent in January 2025, following the rebasing of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from 34.80 per cent recorded in December 2024.
Adeyemi Adeniran, statistician-general of the federation, disclosed this on Tuesday during a press briefing in Abuja. He explained that the CPI, which tracks changes in the prices of goods and services, declined to 24.48 per cent year-on-year in January.
Adeniran highlighted that urban inflation was recorded at 26.09 per cent, while rural inflation stood at 22.15 per cent for the period under review. He attributed the drop in the general price level of goods and services to the CPI rebasing, which introduced a new template for measuring inflation. The previous rate of 34.80 per cent in December was based on the old methodology.
CPI rebasing involves updating the base year used to measure price levels by adjusting the basket of goods and services to better capture current consumer spending habits and ensures that inflation data reflects prevailing economic conditions.
According to the NBS, the rebased food inflation stood at 26.08 per cent year-on-year in January, indicating a decline from the 39.84 per cent recorded in December 2024. The food index measures the rate of price changes in essential food items.
Similarly, the rebased core inflation index, which excludes volatile items such as agricultural produce and energy, was 22.59 per cent year-on-year in January.
