THE country’s inflation rate is now at 28.9 %, a new record, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
This was disclosed in the NBS December 2023 Consumer Price Index (CPI) which was released on Monday afternoon.
The CPI measures the rate of change in the prices of foods and services. Before Monday’s release, the country’s inflation rate was at 28.20 as of November 2023.
“Looking at the movement, the December 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.72% points when compared to the November 2023 headline inflation rate,” the NBS wrote.
“Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in December 2023 was 2.29%, which was 0.20% higher than the rate recorded in November 2023 (2.09%). This means that in December 2023, the rate of increase in the average price level is more than the rate of increase in the average price level in November 2023,” it added.
Food inflation also rose in the month under review. The agency pegged it at 33.93% on a year-on-year basis, which was 10.18% points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022 (23.75%).
“The rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, meat, fruit, milk, cheese, and egg,” it said.
The rising rate of food inflation in Nigeria is coming over six months after President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency on food security
“There must be an urgent synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure adequate irrigation of farmlands and to guarantee that food is produced all year round,” the President was quoted as saying then.
“We shall create and support a National Commodity Board that will review and continuously assess food prices as well as maintain a strategic food reserve that will be used as a price stabilisation mechanism for critical grains and other food items. Through this board, the government will moderate spikes and dips in food prices.”
