Kehinde Fajobi
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Friday that Nigeria’s headline inflation rate climbed to 33.88% in October 2024, up from 32.70% recorded in September.
The report was contained in the bureau’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Inflation Report for October.
On a year-on-year basis, October’s inflation was 6.55% higher than the 27.33% recorded in the same period last year.
Month-on-month inflation also rose to 2.64%, compared to 2.52% in September, indicating an accelerated rise in average prices.
The NBS attributed the increase to rising costs in food, housing, electricity, gas, transport, education, and healthcare.
Specific food items like rice, beans, yams, and cooking oils were cited as key contributors to the hike in food inflation, which stood at 39.16% year-on-year.
Core inflation, excluding volatile items like agricultural produce and energy, rose to 28.37% year-on-year, with transport, rent, and personal services seeing the largest price jumps.
In regional analysis, Bauchi recorded the highest annual inflation rate at 46.68%, followed by Kebbi at 40.02%, while Delta had the lowest at 27.85%.
Month-on-month inflation was highest in Kano at 3.77% and slowest in Kwara at 1.27%.
Food inflation was highest in Sokoto at 52.18% year-on-year, while Kwara recorded the slowest rise at 31.68%.
The NBS noted that rising costs for staples such as rice and yams, as well as meats and fish, drove food prices higher.