Jumoke Olasunkanmi
Nigeria’s headline inflation has surged for the 11th consecutive month, reaching 28.20 percent in November 2023, according to the latest report from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Compared to October 2023, where the headline inflation rate stood at 27.33 percent, November witnessed an increase of 0.87 percent. On a year-on-year basis, the inflation rate in November 2023 was notably higher, marking a 6.73 percent increase as compared to the same month in 2022 when it recorded 21.47 percent.
Also, on a month-on-month basis, the November 2023 headline inflation rate rose to 2.09 percent, surpassing the October 2023 rate of 1.73 percent by 0.35 percent which shows a heightened pace in the increase of the average price level in November compared to the previous month.
This indicates a substantial surge in the headline inflation rate year-on-year and month-on-month, a concerning trend which has persisted since the beginning of the year. Recall that headline inflation stood at 21.34 percent in December 2022 which was a 0.13 percent decline from November 2022.
It has, however, recorded a steady increase since January 2023 and now stands at 28.20 percent.
Similarly, food inflation rose to 32.84 percent in November 2023, an 8.72 percent increment from the 24.13 percent recorded in November of the previous year. On a month-on-month basis, food inflation rate rose by 0.51 percent standing at 2.42 in November from 1.91 recorded in October.
The average annual rate for food inflation also rose to 27.08 percent from 20.41 percent in November 2022.
Kogi, Kwara and River states were shown to have the highest inflation rates at 41.29, 40.72 and 40.22 percent respectively while while Bauchi, Borno, and Jigawa states recorded the slowest rise in food inflation rate on a year-on-year basis at 26.14, 27.34 and 27.63 percent respectively.
However, on a month-on-month basis, Cross River, Edo and Rivers states had the highest food inflation rate with 4.37, 3.95 and 3.91 percent while Anambra, Oyo and Bauchi had the lowest rates with 0.63, 0.91 and 1.00 percent respectively.
This rise, according to the NBS report released on Friday, is as a result of increase in the average prices of bread and cereals; oil and fat; tea and cocoa; potatoes, yam and other tubers.
Core inflation which encompasses all items except farm produce and energy also witnessed an increase from 17.99 percent in November 2022 to 22.38 percent in November 2023.
Monthly comparison also revealed a 0.14 percent growth, rising to 1.53 percent in November 2023 from 1.39 in October.
The NBS report noted that the highest increase were seen in the prices of passenger transport by road, medical services, passenger transport by air, actual and imputed rentals for housing, pharmaceutical products and accommodation services.
The report underscores the ongoing challenge of inflation in the country, raising concerns about its continuous economic impact on the people and the need for effective measures to address it.
