Nigeria’s inflation rate rose for the eleventh month in a row, with the headline inflation rate rising to 28.20 per cent in November 2023 from 27.33 per cent in October 2023,according to the latest consumer price index (CPI) report published by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The NBS report showed that the year-on-year increase in the headline inflation rate was 6.73% points higher in November 2023 compared to November 2022, when the rate was 21.47%. This shows that the headline inflation rate increased on a year-on-year basis in November 2023 compared to the same month in the previous year.
According to the report, the month-on-month increase in the headline inflation rate stood at 2.09 per cent in November 2023, an increase of 0.35 per cent when compared to 1.73 per cent recorded in October 2023.
The NBS report showed that the percentage change in the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the twelve months ending November 2023, relative to the average CPI for the previous twelve months ending November 2022, was 24.01 per cent. This represents an increase of 5.64 per cent compared to the figure recorded in November 2022, which was 18.37 per cent.
Furthermore, the report disclosed that the twelve-month average of the CPI ending November 2023 was 24.01 per cent higher than the twelve-month average ending November 2022. This means that the average price level increased by 5.64 per cent from November 2022 to November 2023.
Food inflation rate for November 2023 stood at 32.84 per cent on a year-on-year basis, representing an increase of 8.72 per cent when compared to 24.13 per cent recorded in November 2022. The increase was attributed to increases in the prices of bread and cereals, oils and fats, potatoes, yams and other tubers, fish, fruits, meat, vegetables and coffee, tea and cocoa.
In addition, the report showed that the food inflation rate on a month-on-month basis was 2.42 per cent in November 2023, an increase of 0.51 per cent from 1.91 per cent recorded in October 2023. This increase was attributed to a surge in the prices of bread and cereals, oils and fats, meat, coffee, tea and cocoa, potatoes, yams and other tubers.
According to the NBS report, the average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending in November 2023 was 27.09 per cent. This represented a 6.68 per cent increase over the average annual rate of 20.41 per cent recorded in November 2022.
The report also showed that the Core Inflation rate, which excludes the prices of agricultural produce and energy, was 22.38 per cent in November 2023 on a year-on-year basis. This was an increase of 4.39 per cent compared to 17.99 per cent recorded in November 2022 . The report noted that the prices of passenger transport by road, medical services, passenger transport by air, actual and imputed rentals for housing, pharmaceutical products, accommodation services, and education had the highest increases.
The NBS report also revealed that core inflation on a month-on-month basis was 1.53 per cent in November 2023, which was 0.14 per cent higher than the 1.39 per cent recorded in October 2023. The average twelve-month annual inflation rate for the twelve months ending in November 2023 was 20.35 per cent, which was 4.66 per cent higher than the 15.69 per cent recorded in November 2022.
