By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday disclosed that the headline inflation for August in Nigeria further eased by 1.25 per cent to 32.15 per cent from 33.40 per cent in July 2024.
In a statement issued today, the agency said the lower increase in the average prices of goods and services in the country in the period under review was due to an improvement in the supply of food.
However, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.35 per cent higher than the 25.80 per cent recorded in August 2023.
Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.22 per cent, lower than the 0.06 per cent achieved in July 2024 at 2.28 per cent.
It was disclosed that the percentage change in the average consumer price index (CPI) for the 12-month period ending August 2024 over the average of the CPI for the previous 12-month period was 31.26 per cent, showing an 8.88 per cent increase compared to 22.38 per cent recorded in August 2023.
In the month under review, the urban inflation rate on a year-on-year basis was 34.58 per cent, this was 6.89 per cent higher than the 27.69 per cent recorded in August 2023, while on a month-on-month basis, it was 2.39 per cent versus 2.46 per cent in the preceding month, with the corresponding 12-month average for the urban inflation rate at 33.44 per cent in August 2024 versus the 23.46 per cent reported in August 2023.
As for the rural inflation rate, it was 29.95 per cent in August 2024 compared with 24.10 per cent in the sale period of last year, and on a month-on-month basis, it was 2.06 per cent compared with 2.10 per cent in July 2024, while the corresponding 12-month average was 29.32 per cent, in contrast to 21.39 per cent recorded in August 2023.
The NBS stated that the food inflation rate in August 2024 was 37.52 per cent on a year-on-year basis versus 29.34 per cent in August 2023 due to increases in prices of bread, maize grains, guinea corn, etc (bread and cereals class), yam, Irish potatoes, water yam, cassava tuber, etc (potatoes, yam & other tubers class), palm oil, vegetable, etc (oil & fats class) and Ovaltine, milo, Lipton, etc (coffee, tea & cocoa class).
On a month-on-month basis, it was 2.37 per cent versus 2.47 per cent in July 2024 because of the decline in the rate of increase in the average prices of tobacco, tea, cocoa, coffee, groundnut oil, milk, yam, Irish potatoes, water yam, cassava tuber, palm oil, vegetable etc.
The average annual rate of Food inflation for the 12 months ending August 2024 over the previous 12-month average was 36.99 per cent, which was 11.98 per cent higher than the average annual rate of change recorded in August 2023 at 25.01 per cent.