Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 33.88% in October 2024 from 32.7% in September 2024 as Nigerians continue to face the high cost of goods and services.

This is according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which attributed the rise in inflation to increased transport costs and higher food prices.

Year-on-year, the rate was 6.55 percentage points higher than the 27.33% recorded in October 2023, highlighting a substantial increase in inflation over the past year.

Month-on-month, the headline inflation rate in October 2024 was 2.64%, up 0.12% from September 2024’s 2.52%.

This indicates that the rate of increase in the average price level in October 2024 was higher than the rate of increase observed in September 2024.

Food inflation

Food inflation rate in October 2024 it was 39.16% from year to year ccompared to September 2024, when there was inflation 37.77%.

• On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate rose to 2.94%, up 0.30% from 2.64% recorded in September 2024.
• This increase was driven by the increase in prices of items such as local and foreign beer in the tobacco class, vegetable oil, groundnut oil and palm oil in the oil and fat class, and beef, gut, beef jerky in the meat class , and products such as Lipton, Milo and Bournvita.
• The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending October 2024 was 38.12%, representing an increase of 11.79 percentage points from 26.33% recorded in October 2023.

Core inflation

Core inflation, which excludes volatile agricultural and energy prices, stood at 28.37% in October 2024 year-on-year, up 5.79% from 22.58% in October 2023.

• The largest increases were seen in the prices of items such as intra-city bus travel, motorcycle travel and intercity bus travel (in the Road Passenger Transport category); rents (both real and imputed rents from the Housing category); meals at local restaurants (in the Accommodation Services category); and services such as haircuts, hairbrushes for women and hairdressing for women (within Hair Salons and Personal Care Units).
• On a month-to-month basis, the core inflation rate was 2.14% in October 2024, slightly higher by 0.04% than September 2024’s 2.10%.

The twelve-month average annual inflation rate was 26.12% for the twelve months ended October 2024, representing an increase of 6.14 percentage points from 19.98% recorded in October 2023.

Urban and rural inflation

Year-on-year, the urban inflation rate in October 2024 was 36.38%, which was 7.09 percentage points higher than the 29.29% recorded in October 2023.

On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 2.75% in October 2024, marking an increase of 0.08 percentage points from 2.67% in September 2024.

• The urban twelve-month average inflation rate was 34.52% in October 2024, which was 9.76 percentage points higher than the 24.76% reported in October 2023.
• The rural inflation rate in October 2024 was 31.59% on an annual basis, reflecting an increase of 6.01 percentage points from 25.58% in October 2023.
• On a month-to-month basis, rural inflation was 2.53% in October 2024, up 0.14 percentage points from 2.39% in September 2024. The twelve-month average rural inflation rate was 30, 24% in October 2024, which was 8.01 percentage points. higher than the 22.23% recorded in October 2023.

What you should know

• Previously Nairametrics reported that the inflation rate for October is expected to rise, based on the outlook of a panel of economists polled by the platform.
• This pessimistic outlook is attributed to several factors, including escalating food inflation, rising energy costs, persistent exchange rate volatility and increased money supply.
• The projection comes a week ahead of the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee meeting this month, indicating a potential further increase in the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

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