Abuja: Nigeria’s headline inflation rate has decreased to 16.05% in October, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This development was highlighted in the NBS’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for October, released in Abuja on Monday.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the headline inflation saw a decline to 1.96% from the 18.02% documented in September. On a year-on-year basis, the rate was 17.82% lower compared to October 2024’s 33.88%. The report also indicated that on a month-on-month basis, October’s headline inflation rate was 0.93%, 0.21% higher than September’s 0.72%.
The report attributed the increase in the headline index for October to the rise in certain items within the basket of goods and services at the divisional level. The primary contributors to the year-on-year headline inflation were Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages at 6.42%, Restaurants and Accommodation Services at 2.07%, and Transport at 1.71%.
The report further detailed the least contributors, which included Recreation, Sport, and Culture at 0.05%, Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco, and Narcotics at 0.06%, and Insurance and Financial Services at 0.08%. The food inflation rate was 13.12% on a year-on-year basis, a 26.04 percentage point decrease compared to October 2024’s 39.16%. This decline was primarily due to a change in the base year.
Moreover, the report noted that food inflation on a month-on-month basis was -0.37%, an increase of 1.27% from the -1.57% recorded in September. The increase was linked to the rise in average prices of items such as onions, fruits like oranges and pineapples, shrimp, groundnut, various vegetables, and meats.
Core inflation, excluding volatile agricultural produce and energy, was 18.69% on a year-on-year basis in October. On a month-on-month basis, it was 1.416%, slightly decreasing from September’s 1.417%. Urban inflation was reported at 15.65% year-on-year, significantly lower than the previous year’s 36.38%. On a month-on-month basis, it was 1.14%, a 0.4% increase from September’s 0.74%.
Rural inflation stood at 15.86% year-on-year, down by 15.73 percentage points from October 2024’s 31.59%. Month-on-month, it was 0.45%, a decrease of 0.22% from September’s 0.67%.
State profiles showed the highest year-on-year all-items index inflation in Ekiti at 20.14%, followed by Nassarawa at 18.97%, and Zamfara at 18.81%. The slowest increases were in Bauchi at 9.99%, Anambra at 11.72%, and Gombe at 11.73%. On a month-on-month basis, Niger and Anambra recorded the highest inflation at 4.90%, with Edo, Katsina, and Adamawa showing the slowest rises.
Food inflation was most pronounced in Ogun at 20.85%, with Nassarawa and Ekiti following. The slowest increases were in Akwa Ibom, Katsina, and Yobe. Month-on-month, Bauchi, Abuja, and Niger had the highest food inflation rates, while Katsina, Oyo, and Taraba experienced the slowest rises.
The report also mentioned the recent rebasing of the CPI, which rose to 128.9 in October, marking a 1.2 percentage point increase from September’s 127.7. The rebasing brought the base year closer to the current period, from 2009 to 2024, with 2023 as the reference period for expenditure weights.