The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that Nigeria’s headline inflation has dropped for the second time, to 32.15 percent in August.
The NBS latest report, which was released on Monday, said the inflation eased the second time in 2024 after a 19-month increase that peaked at 34.19 percent in June.
‘Looking at the movement, the August 2024 headline inflation rate showed a decrease of 1.25% points when compared to the July 2024 headline inflation rate (33.40).’
It, however, said on a year-on-year basis that the headline inflation rate was 6.35 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (25.80%).
‘This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in August 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., August 2023).’
Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.22%, which was 0.06% lower than the rate recorded in August 2024 (2.28%).
‘This means that in August 2024, the rate of in
crease in the average price level is lower than the rate of increase in the average price level in July 2024.’
The report added that the food inflation rate in August 2024 was 37.52 percent on a year-on-year basis, which was 8.18% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (29.34%).
It said the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increase in prices of; ‘Bread, Maize Grains, Guinea Corn, etc (Bread and Cereals Class), Yam, Irish Potatoes, Water Yam, Cassava Tuber, etc (Potatoes, Yam and Other Tubers Class), Palm Oil, Vegetable, etc (Oil and Fats Class) and Ovaltine, Milo, Lipton, etc (Coffee, Tea and Cocoa Class).’
But on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.37 percent, a 0.10% decrease compared to the rate recorded in July 2024 (2.47 percent).
‘The fall can be attributed to the decline in the rate of increase in the average prices of Tobacco, Tea, Coco, Coffee, Groundnut Oil, Milk, Yam, Irish Potatoes, Water Yam, Cassava Tuber,
Palm Oil, Vegetable etc,’ the NBS said.
It added that the average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending August 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 36.99 percent, which was 11.98 percent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in August 2023 (25.01 percent).
Source: Voice of Nigeria