Nigeria’s inflation rate is now at 28.9 %. Consumer price index (CPI) rose to 28.92 percent in December 2023 from 28.20 percent in November.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the December 2023 Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Monday, revealing the following information.
“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 increased by 10.18% YoY to 33.93% in the month reviewed, compared to December 2022’s rate of 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.
Nigeria’s food inflation has risen over six months since 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.”